


Naruto Evergarden

by Swordood



Category: Naruto, Violet Evergarden (Anime)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe - World War I, Anbu Uzumaki Naruto, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Development, Child Soldiers, Childhood Trauma, Drama, Female Uzumaki Naruto, Gen, Heartache, Hurt/Comfort, Manipulation, Mental Anguish, No Romance, Shimura Danzou Being an Asshole, Uzumaki Naruto Needs a Hug, World War I, shinobi with guns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-04-03 17:16:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 72,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21487306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swordood/pseuds/Swordood
Summary: First publicized story: Danzo's machinations have led the Third Hokage to do something he never wished to do, Draft a young Uzumaki Naruto into Anbu. With war on the horizon, how will the seven year old girl survive, and what will the consequences of doing so be? Violet Evergarden crossover is mostly concept only. Will contain gore and cursing. *May have slow updates*Work is also on my Fanfic.net profile with the same name
Comments: 28
Kudos: 103





	1. Episode 1: The Beginning

The Hokage's office was filled with paperwork.

Really, the Hokage's desk was surrounded by literal mountains of stacks of never ending paperwork. Some of the stacks reached the ceiling, and many others had collapsed into other stacks of paper, most of the ones that hadn't leaned precariously. The only space in the room that could be seen was the Hokage's desk and a small walkway leading from said desk to the room's exit.

Despite all this, Sarutobi Hiruzen, The Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, had his mind on other matters.

He sat at his desk, head held tightly in his hands, looking like the definition of defeat. For indeed he had been defeated.

Not by the paperwork, mind you. No, he couldn't give a damn about the blasted things.

Rather, the Hokage had been defeated in a matter more pressing, and much more serious.

Danzo Shimura had effectively ruined poor Naruto Chan's life. And there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing that wouldn't play the poor girl straight into the man's greedy hands.

Danzo has effectively turned the entire village against the poor seven year old. Someone had leaked the girl's secret when she was only a babe, and things only went downhill from there. At first, it was just mild paranoia, the citizens of Konoha may have felt worried over the new Jinjuriki, but it was just mild worry. They lived in a ninja village, they recognized the effects with seals. But then the rumors started.

People began to question things, less people started believing in the strength of the seal, and when that doubt came to light, new rumors were spread. Suddenly, the seal was no longer a seal that had been made years in advance by the best of the Uzumaki, now it was a seal that had been made on the spot, using experimental sealing components.

Over the years the rumors had changed, adapted, grown. It got to the point where even the Hokage's desperate reassurances were pointless, because the citizens were too full of doubt.

And then came the changes of attitude.

People began avoiding the child like the plague. Kicking her out of stores, not accepting her money, cheating her of her allowances, some even became downright antagonistic towards the girl. And all this started when the poor girl was barely three! If it wasn't for Hiruzen's influence, then Naruto wouldn't know how to speak correctly! As it was, she couldn't understand certain concepts, such as family or friends. The Hokage was seriously worried about the girl's mental state, both currently and in her future!

Things kept building, and someone kept feeding the flames. Finally, just this morning, the powder keg erupted.

At 11:35 am, on this Wednesday morning of April 5th, a group of civilians actively attacked Naruto Chan.

They actively attacked Naruto Chan, and she defended herself. And she injured all four of the civilians, one of which died of his wounds. Witnesses reported otherwise, but there had only been the slightest sliver of the Kyuubi's chakra leaking out of the seal. Just enough to allow the child to augment what she had learned that year, her first and only year in the academy.

The civilians were out for blood, and the ninja clans who normally sided in agreement with Hiruzen, agreed that something had to be done. Naruto Chan would not be able to go back to the academy. She couldn't wait five years before she could be safely integrated into the shinobi forces. Hiruzen had to put the girl into Anbu now. It was the only way to be sure the girl wouldn't be snatched up by Danzo.

There was no proof the man had done anything, there never was. And yet, despite the lack of evidence, Despite their past roles as friends all those years ago, Hiruzen knew that Danzo was responsible. No one else would stand to gain anything. And Danzo knew it too. His fake pretense at consolation was just that... Fake. He never felt remorse whenever people fell into his machinations!

With a heavy heart, but with swift movements, Hiruzen got to work signing. Danzo would not have her! He may have bested the Hokage, and he may have made civilian life impossible and dangerous for Naruto, but Danzo would not have her! Anbu would be safe! As an Anbu, Naruto could be assigned to his side at all times, and Hiruzen would be the sole voice regarding Naruto's deployment!

Danzo May have won this battle, but the war was not lost. Hiruzen would fight to his own literal death if that's what it took to give Naruto as normal a life as Hiruzen could grant!

Still, as Hiruzen finished signing for Naruto's draft into Anbu, Hiruzen could not help feeling grief and foreboding.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Danzo read the report with amusement. So Sarutobi thought he could keep Uzumaki Chan away from him?

Well, no matter. His ultimate goal was not to have the girl under his thumb. It was to make her a weapon worthy of Konoha. There were other ways to draw the girl into positions that would forge her into a proper tool.

Danzo stared outside his office window. The view, while not as spectacular as the Hokage's office, was still beautiful. He could see most of Konoha from this position. However, Danzo while was staring at the view, he was not appreciating its beauty. Rather, he was wrapped up in his own thoughts.

He loved Konoha, perhaps more so than the others, including Hiruzen, would like to admit. Everything he had done had been for this village, whether the methods to reach those goals were despicable or not. Someone had to do the dirty work of the village, and Danzo was the only one who could do it and still love Konoha.

Sometimes, his love of the village did not extend as much to its citizens, and sometimes, he had to sacrifice some of them to ensure the safety and security of Konoha's prospects.

"Bear."

Immediately after Danzo had spoken, a slim figure appeared in a brief flicker of leaves. She landed in a crouch, showing absolute subservience.

"Hai Danzo Sama?"

"You are to take a team of covert agents and infiltrate Iwagakure. Begin stirring up civil unrest. I want them ready to go to war and bloodthirsty by the end of the month. It is time for Konoha to sharpen its blade again, we cannot become too lax, after all."

"As you will it, Danzo Sama." The woman disappeared in a flicker of leaves, leaving Danzo alone. He continued staring out into the village, planning.

Yes, it would be unfortunate to go to war again, but he would be running covert operations to keep the war under control the entire time. This would be a controlled war, all in favor of sharpening the village's weapon, the Jinjuriki of the Nine Tail Demon Fox.


	2. Episode 2: Joining Anbu

Anbu agent Inu sped across the rooftops of Konoha, body flickering so fast those below the rank of Jonin only saw a flicker at most.

He had just left a briefing with Hokage Sama, and was now on his way to his objective.

He had been tasked with retrieving Naruto Uzumaki from her apartment and meeting with the Hokage. From there, he would lead her to Anbu headquarters, where she would be assigned a mask and her post.

Normally, Anbu member hopefuls would have to spend months training in a bunker away from Headquarters. After they completed their training they would be tested to see if they were Anbu material. If they passed it was then, and only then, they were given their mask and assigned to a team.

However, the Hokage explained that this was a special case. Inu was just glad Naruto was still safe, even if he was upset at what had led to this situation.

The Anbu captain touched down on the second floor of the apartment complex. This run down structure was where his sensei's child lived.

It was also where she was currently under house arrest, if the team of Anbu watching her house was any indication.

Inu presented his papers to the Anbu captain. The man looked down at the paperwork, reading silently to himself. Once he was finished, he nodded and signaled to his team.

The six Anbu flickered back to headquarters for reassignment, and Inu was left alone in front of the apartment complex.

He walked up the stairs, frowning at the loose and creaking steps. How the landlord got away with such disrepair was baffling to him.

Inu reached the door belonging to the young Uzumaki, knocking on the door politely.

Twenty five seconds later the door was opened and a blond head of hair poked out.

Inu took a second to look the blonde over. Despite having been in that fight earlier, she wasn't too banged up. Her attitude was defensive, probably in response to the attempt on her life. She also sported a few scrapes and cuts, but they weren't serious. Most of them (the ones that weren't just surface scrapes) had already been bandaged by expert medical hands.

"Hello?" The blonde quirked her head with curiosity.

Inu smiled, even if his masks blocked the sight from the blonde. "Hokage Sama sent me to collect you."

"Hai." The young girl moved to step out of the house.

"It's gonna be awhile before you can come back. I suggest packing a bag of important things to take with you."

Naruto stopped mid-step. "Hai." She turned around and walked back inside, leaving the door open.

Inu stepped in after her, closing the door behind him. He eyed the inside of the apartment.

Despite the obvious state of disrepair, the apartment was tidy. There were a few dishes in the sink and the trash was near full, but the rest of the house was clean.

The furniture looked to have seen better days, one of the sofa's legs was replaced with a rough wooden block, and the kitchen table was chipped and had a broken corner.

Even with the bad furniture, Inu could see that the rest of the house was taken care of to the best of the seven year old girl's ability. A few potted plants were in the corner next to the window, offering some cheeriness to the apartment. And the carpet in the living room, though stained, was otherwise clean.

Inu poked his head into the refrigerator in curiosity. Inside were various foodstuffs, vegetables, fruits and some meats. At least she was being fed adequately.

While Inu had been snooping through the house, his temporary charge was filling a backpack with clothes, scrolls and her personal collection of kunai and shuriken.

She came out of her room with the bag, stuffed to the brim with her belongings. "You didn't say how long to pack for, so I grabbed all of my clothes."

"Are you sure you aren't missing anything?" Inu quirked his head, emphasizing his thoughts.

The blonde shook her head.

Inu gave an inaudible sigh. "Very well. Lock your door and take my hand, I'm going to Shunshin us to the Hokage."

The small blonde did as told, staring unflinchingly as her surroundings were warped. One second, she was staring at the locked door of her apartment, and the next she was standing in front of the Hokage in his office.

"Jiji!" The blonde smiled, running up to the old man.

The Hokage gave the blonde girl a tired smile. "Naruto Chan." He patted her head, to which the blonde gave a happy little laugh. The Hokage turned to Inu. "Thank you for bringing her here this fast Inu San."

"It was no problem Hokage Sama."

The Hokage sighed, his hand falling away from Naruto's head. "I'm afraid it is, Inu San. Please take Naruto Chan to the Anbu headquarters and get her settled, I'm putting her under your care for now. I shall have a full schedule planned out for Naruto Chan before the day is done, and the rest of the paperwork will be fully processed and approved before the week is over ."

"Jiji?" Naruto quirked her head. Her innocent eyes stared up at him. It was almost enough for him to forget that she killed someone, even if she was unaware of the fact and even if it had been in self defense.

The Hokage bent down to her eye level, despite his creaking knees. "I'm going to be sending you somewhere safe. Somewhere you can be trained without having to worry about the bad villagers messing with you."

"Because I hurt people?"

The old man sighed. "Yes." At her saddened look he amended. "You aren't in trouble, Naruto Chan. You were only defending yourself. It's just that some people aren't happy with the end result."

Naruto nodded, showing she understood. Sarutobi gave her a tiny smile. "Inu, please escort her to where she needs to be. Stick close to her and make sure she gets settled. I will send someone with further instructions in a few hours."

Inu nodded, taking the small blonde's hands and disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Sarutobi turned, taking a seat at his desk. He pulled out a form, filling it out with the needed information.

Once it was filled, he began looking through the Anbu roster. He needed people willing and able to teach and watch Naruto when he couldn't, and he would be meticulous about who he let near the small seven year old.

He was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Enter."

The door opened at his call, and thirteen year old Itachi Uchiha walked in. He was wearing full Anbu attire, sans the mask which had been clipped to his waist.

"I came to report on the status of the Uchiha unrest, Hokage Sama."

Sarutobi sighed, feeling the weight of his office bearing down on his shoulders. Naruto Chan would have to wait for a few minutes it seemed.

"Report Itachi Kun."

"The Uchiha are growing more restless. My father and the clan elders have come up with several more 'hypothetical' plans and procedures. There was a scuffle between some Chunin and the Uchiha police again." Itachi took a breath. "I was the one to break up the fight, and was able to smooth things over for now. I've also tried to dissuade my father on this course of action, but he still thinks that this is the only course available. He feels as though the village doesn't trust the Uchiha anymore."

The third Hokage mused the words of the young Anbu, turning over ideas in his head. This was a delicate situation, and required a similarly delicate hand when dealing with it.

With all that, Hiruzen felt as if he was missing some possible answer that was smacking him in the face. Some answer that would show the village's trust toward the Uchiha, and would show them that their problems were being heard and worked on.

It hit him when he looked at Naruto's folder. It couldn't be that simple, could it? No… it was extremely risky. There was no telling just how the Uchiha Patriarch, or even the rest of the village, would react to this ... but it could be just the thing that's needed to end all thought of this civil war.

Just maybe…

The Third Hokage have a tiny smirk of satisfaction, having made up his mind. He turned to Itachi. "I have a plan."

Inu and Naruto popped into the Anbu headquarters in a swirl of leaves. The various Anbu coming and going from the headquarters all gave them curious looks, but ultimately didn't bother them.

Naruto's head swiveled left and right, taking everything in. Most civilians assumed that due to the Anbu's publicly cool and businesslike personas, their headquarters were cold and dreary. Most assumed that they worked in the caves under and around Konoha, or a building made of concrete.

They were only partly right.

The Anbu headquarters has been chiseled out of the base of the mountain, such that it was hidden from discovery except by those who knew how to find it. However, apart from that, the Anbu headquarters were very similar to any other government office.

The inside of the caves has been fully renovated. The walls, floors and ceiling had been lain with wood, to help stave off the cold of the caves. Artificial lights had been laid regularly, keeping the base lit and cheery.

Past the receptionist desk was a door leading to the heart of the headquarters. In the center was a large map of the entire continent, with various figurines portraying various villages and army formations. Around the map, Various workstations allowed Anbu operatives to fill out paperwork.

Many doors led out of this room, leading to other parts of the headquarters, where other rooms with different purposes lay. One such door led to the barracks, where Anbu members could rest when they weren't currently on duty.

This was where Inu led Naruto, passing even more Anbu members. He lead her through the various sub rooms and hallways of the barracks, before stopping at one of the doors seemingly at random. He opened the door and held it open for her.

"This room is not currently occupied. This will be where you sleep until Hokage Sama says otherwise."

Naruto walked inside, ignoring the two other bunk beds and walking to the bed furthest from the door. She chose the lower bed of the furthest bunk to set her bag on.

"Word of advice? Keep the room spotless and make sure to keep your stuff in your drawers or on your bed. It's easier to avoid trouble with possible roommates and superiors." Inu offered kindly.

Naruto nodded, picking her bag back up. She chose one of the dressers closest to her bunk, one of six, and stuffed her belongings into it.

Once finished, she followed Inu back to another part of the headquarters. Based on the weapons and arms, she could safely say that it was the armory.

Inu dug through a pile of blank masks, looking for one small enough to fit a seven year old.

He handed the one he found to Naruto. "It's a temporary mask. You'll be assigned a unique one when Hokage Sama says you're ready, but for now that's the one you will use for training and for when you go out into public while on duty."

"Am I part of Anbu?" Naruto questioned.

"Not officially, at least not yet. For now we'll focus on training you, and once Hokage Sama finishes drafting you he'll let us know."

Inu looked at the clock. "Come, I suggest you rest until you are called again. Anbu are expected to be called in at any time of day, so it's best you get as much sleep as you can for now."

Naruto followed him back to her new room. He held the door open for her. "My door is the one right across from here if you need anything."

And with that, Naruto was left alone.


	3. Episode 3: Training and Draining

It had been a week since she had been drafted into the government institution known as Anbu.

It had been a week of frustration. Filled with many hours of physically and mentally training each day. Frustrating hours of learning rules, regulations and charts. many hours of mentally beating herself up, of enduring exasperation from her senior colleagues. And there were many more months of all of that and more in the future to look forward to.

Because to put it simply, Naruto was nowhere near the level she needed to be to join the elite organization of shinobi that made up the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai (translating to the Special Asassination and Tactical Squad).

Most Anbu initiates were Chunin hopefuls that showed special skills and or merit, and were only considered for assignment if they were referred by someone of rank in Anbu.

Naruto wasn't a skilled Chunin. She wasn't even Genin level yet. Sure, she had been granted the rank of Genin and allowed to join Anbu under special circumstances, but it would be a long time coming before she was skilled enough to be Anbu.

But that was ok. At least, that's what Kakashi senpai says whenever they train. Because she wasn't going to give up until she could wear her gear proudly.

Besides, she kind of liked it here. Sure, Kakashi senpai was always late, and some of the Anbu operatives could be distant, or strange. But it was better than the cold glares of the villagers, or the vulgar cursing of the drunk.

Naruto stared at the blades of grass swaying in the breeze in contemplation. She turned her head back to the scroll she had been assigned. She would not be leaving this clearing until she had a basic understanding of its contents, so she was determined to get it down as fast as possible.

The only thing was that she was stuck. There was a particular move in the taijutsu scroll that she was having trouble with, and she couldn't figure out why.

She set the scroll down, following the movements detailed in the scroll to the best of her ability. The taijutsu style was centered around being quick and hard to hit, which was perfect for her small frame. The first move was a jab, followed by a sidestep and a kick. The kick was followed by a jumping kick, transiting from her supporting leg being her kicking leg and vice versa. After that was supposed to come a sweep of the legs and the finishing move.

The problem was that she kept messing up after landing from the jump. She would lose her balance whenever she went for the leg sweep, and she would end up collapsing into a heap on the floor.

Again she jumped up, twisting her body in midair and snapping out with a kick. She landed on her other foot, immediately ducking down for a sweep of the legs. As her leg extended for the sweep, however, she lost her balance again, falling flat on her back. She gave a frustrated growl, picking herself up to begin again.

"Yo."

The blonde stopped mid jab, looking at the man in annoyance. "You're late again!"

"Gomen, Gomen. I had to help an old lady chop up a tree to use for firewood."

"It's April. It's not really cold enough for firewood."

"Her cat may or may not have also been stuck in the tree."

Naruto looked as if she wasn't sure if she should believe that. In the end she let it go, focusing on practicing her Taijutsu.

She went through the movements under the critical eye of Kakashi. When she screwed up again, she braced herself for the possible disapproval.

"I think I see what's wrong. Try spinning again once you've landed."

"Why?"

"Just trust me on this."

Confused, she gave it a try. She went through the motions, jab, sidestep, high kick followed by spinning jump kick. She landed, spinning on her heel as she ducked. She stuck her none supporting leg out for a sweep, barely keeping her balance as she did so. She crawled over her imaginary target, holding a kunai over its imaginary neck.

Her head snapped up, eyeing the silver haired man. "What was I doing wrong before?"

"You weren't doing anything wrong per se. it's just that your body doesn't have the balance required for that move. Your current body structure makes that move difficult because the weight distribution is off. By putting in the extra spin, you gave your body some time to slow the kinetic energy of your jump down enough for you to perform the move, rather than letting the energy stop suddenly and throw you off balance."

Naruto quirked her head, understanding some of the explanation but not all of it. Kakashi sighed.

"Basically, the extra spin slowed you down enough that you're sense of balance wasn't messed up. Because of that, you were able to catch your balance and complete the move."

Naruto nodded. "Thank you."

Kakashi nodded. "Come on, Hokage sama called for us."

Naruto bounced her way to Kakashi's side, a small grin on her face. "Did Jiji tell you why he called us?"

"Maybe." Kakashi drawled, already burying his face in his orange book.

Naruto crosses her arms and huffed. "Come on Kakashi sensei, tell me!" Her voice came out whiny.

Kakashi refused to look in her direction, where she totally wasn't performing the puppy dog eye pout technique. Nevertheless, he answered with amusement.

"That wouldn't be very fun, now would it? Anbu need to be patient Naruto. You can wait until we get to Hokage Sama's office."

"Were we called to talk about my training?"

"Maybe."

"Where we called so Jiji could treat us to ramen?"

"No."

"Is he calling us to give us a team?"

"Wa~rm."

"Is he gonna make you lead the team?"

"Wa~rmer"

"Am I gonna help you lead the team?"

"Cold."

"Sensei!" Naruto pouted, turning her head away from him and gave a little huff.

Kakashi chuckled. "Aw, don't be that way Naru~ Chan! You know it's true!" He teased.

Nearly half an hour later saw Kakashi walking into the Hokage's office, with Naruto waiting just outside with the receptionist.

"You sent for us, Hokage-Sama?"

The Hokage was standing at the window, looking out over Konoha while smoking his pipe. Upon their entrance, the old village head turned back to gaze at him.

"Yes I did." He answered simply. "Kakashi, how far would you say Naruto has come in the week under your care?"

Kakashi tilted his head in contemplation. "Forgive me for speaking out of place, but a week is not a very long time for a person with barely any training to get anywhere significant Hokage sama."

"Please humor this old man, Kakashi San."

Kakashi took a breath to contemplate the Benin's progress. "If I am to be truthfully critical, she is at about the third year academy level physically at best. And while she is smart, she has trouble grasping concepts unless they are explained to her thoroughly, so I would put her at about second year intellectually."

The third Hokage gave a world weary sigh. "That's not nearly enough…"

"Hokage-sama?"

"Something is coming, Kakashi. I'm hearing disturbing reports from the borders of the Land of Earth. The people of Earth country are growing restless, and I hear of potential shinobi movement near the border." Hiruzen emptied his pipe in his ashtray. "I don't like it, and I want to make sure we are ready. I would be able to rest easier if I knew Naruto Chan could at least take care of herself."

Kakashi nodded. "I shall step up her training then."

"See that you do." Sarutobi nodded. "On that topic, I have selected a team capable of assisting you with teaching and protecting Naruto Chan. If you would call Naruto Chan in, we can get started."

Kakashi opened the door to the sight of a sheepish Naruto trying not to look like she had just been caught trying to eavesdrop. Her efforts would have been thwarted due to the privacy seals that activated whenever the door shut, but that behavior not fitting for an aspiring anbu shinobi ever.

"Naruto…" he said warningly.

"Sorry sensei." She grinned, rubbing the back of her head. "What were you talking about?"

Kakashi sighed, reminding himself he was dealing with a seven year old.

"Please don't listen in on the Hokage's private conversations Naruto Chan, it's extremely rude." He shook his head, letting her off with that warning. "Hokage sama was asking about your progress."

"What'd you tell him?"

"What do you think?" He grinned. "Now come inside, Hokage sama wants to talk to the both of us."

"Ok." Naruto hopped her way into the office, settling herself to stand next to the Hokage's desk. She greeted her Jiji happily, earning an amused chuckle from the man.

The Hokage pressed a button on his desk, resolving himself to listen to Naruto's account of her training while he waited for the summoned shinobi to appear. Once they did, he motioned for Naruto to silence, which she did after a few seconds.

"Naruto Chan, Kakashi, these shinobi will be assigned to your team for the foreseeable future. Their code names are Monkey, Otter, Bear and Weasel. They will join you in training and missions, as well as report to you, Kakashi, in the event of missions."

The four new shinobi bowed politely. "It's nice to meet you" They intoned.

"Hai Hokage sama." Kakashi gave his consent.

Sarutobi nodded, taking a seat at his desk and pulling some papers from the stack of paperwork.

"You are all dismissed for team introductions and training. Furthermore, I hope not to send any of you on any missions for two months. Please use that time wisely."

The six bowed to the Hokage, before walking out (for the convenience of the youngest member, who had yet to learn the shunshin technique.)

The six shinobi walked out of the Hokage's office professionally. The moment the office door closed however, is when the professionalism drained out of the situation.

"Oh, you are just so cute!" The only female anbu there other than Naruto cooed, squeezing the blonde into a tight hug.

The action seemed to irk one of the men, who let out a sigh. "Otter, now is not the time. You are still representing anbu!"

"O lighten up Tano kun, she's adorable!"

The man's head dropped into his palms. "It's Monkey while in the mask Otter. We aren't supposed to let our identities out while wearing the mask."

"Our identities aren't exactly subtle anyways. There are some people who have obvious tells as to their identity if you look in the right spots." Bear spoke up.

"Those people are usually skilled enough to protect themselves without hiding their identities." The dry voice of weasel spoke up.

"Ok, listen up squad." Kakashi gave his signature eye smile. "Were going to have introductions, and I think it's a smart idea for all of us to participate in a spar."

This was the best way for practical shinobi strangers to get to know each other, especially considering this was the group they would be fighting next to for the foreseeable future. It was no surprise then, that all of them agreed.

Training ground three was famous among the shinobi of Konoha. It was here where third Hokage and his team were taught by the second Hokage. It was the preferred training grounds of the three legendary sannin, back when they were genin. It was also frequently booked by the Fourth Hokage when he was training his own team. (Theorists also theorized this was the training ground where Madara and the First Hokage first met, but as there was no proof it remained a theory.)

It was this training ground Kakashi chose to lead his team to, mostly due to the privacy it offered. It wouldn't do to have just anyone stumble onto a team of Anbu divulging their identities now would it?

"Seeing as I am the leader of this team, I suppose I should start with introductions." Kakashi mused. He held up his mask, which until then had been clipped to his belt. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. I am a jonin, and have been in anbu for around 8 years now. I am a ninjutsu specialist, but have trained extensively in taijutsu and have experience with genjutsu. I have many likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future ... and I have lots of hobbies."

The group of shinobi stared at Kakashi, who gave them all an easygoing eye smile. Seeing they would be getting no further information, the rest of them sighed. Weasel stepped forward to continue the cycle.

The short shinobi took off his mask, revealing the face of a young boy. Despite his young age however, his face was already weary from stress.

He had the typical traits of an Uchiha, black eyes and hair, as well as a sharp chin.

"My name is Itachi Uchiha. I am a chunin, and have been in anbu for two years. I am good at ninjitsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, and I have had some weapons training. I like my little brother and pocky. I do not like traitors or stubbornness. I have a single dream. And I have no real hobbies."

Kakashi blinked at the dull way the young Uchiha spoke. He could hear the stress rolling off him in waves, which is probably one of the reasons that the Hokage has reassigned the young boy. He was interrupted from his musings when otter rushed the young man, pinching his cheeks and letting out a delighted squeal.

"Oh, goody! We have two cuties on this team!"

Itachi grunted in annoyance, pushing the woman's hands off of his cheek. The lady was relentless, pulling him into a bone crushing hug.

An irritated sigh came from Monkey. "Noda, you're getting distracted."

The woman looked away from Itachi, allowing the Uchiha to slink out of her grasp. She seemed to not notice, peeking up at the unmentioned demand for introductions.

She removed her own mask, revealing a tanned mature face, with hazel eyes and a rounded chin. Her smile caused dimples to form on her cheeks.

She brushed her brown hair out of her face and began talking. "My name is Noda Ikoi, and I've been in anbu for six years now. I'm also a chunin, if you can't tell already, and I specialize in weapons usage. Specifically with various swords. I'm also good at ninjutsu, but I'm not as good with taijutsu. I like socializing, art and my boyfriend Tano, and I dislike it when I can't figure things out for myself, and when Tano nags me. My dreams for the future is being able to introduce myself to my sensei's child, and my hobbies are pranking, baking, music, and painting!" She constantly bounced as she spoke, causing the others heads to bob as they followed her movements.

Monkey shook his head. "Sometimes it's hard to remember you're 21. You certainly don't act like it."

"Mou, you're a spoilsport Tano kun!"

Monkey took off his own mask, revealing a sharp chin and blue eyes. He brushed his flat black hair out of his eyes and began his own monologue. "My name is Tano Kozue, code name monkey. I am a Jonin that specializes in fire style jutsu and Kenjutsu, and I have been in anbu for eight years. I like clean things, order and my girlfriends. I dislike unclean things, when people don't take things seriously, and people who try to hurt my precious people. My dream for the future is to eventually settle down. I don't have many hobbies, but I do enjoy chess and shogi."

The last man stepped up, peeling off his own mask. He was a bear of a man, which was probably the reason for his call sign. His face was rather average, with black eyes and brown hair cropped short. His smile was friendly, and he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment at being put on the spot. "Hello, my name is Kenta Ise. I'm also a jonin, and I specialize in taijutsu and earth and lightning jutsu. I like working out and working with animals, and I dislike it when people abuse or neglect them. I don't have a dream for myself, rather I want to work hard so that I can teach my nephew everything he needs to succeed. My hobbies are pottery and weightlifting."

The five shinobi looked at their smallest member. The blonde immediately grew embarrassed.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, I'm seven and a genin, and I only joined anbu last week. I don't have any specialties yet, but I'm working hard to make my own! I like pranking and ramen, and I don't like bullies, or how long it takes to make ramen! Um, I don't have a dream yet, but I would like to be a strong ninja someday. I like plants and stuff too!"

"Wah, so adorable!" Noda cooed.

"Noda…" Tano restrained her from tackling the young blonde.

Kakashi brought it all to a stop by clapping his hands together. "Alright. Now that introductions are out of the way, we should all spar so we know how we all fight. It's better to know the strengths and weaknesses of our allies before going into a real battle after all!"

The rest of the chunin and jonin knew this already, but they also understood that it was being said for the benefit of the young blonde Uzumaki, who's education was… ongoing.

"Naruto, you and I will start. After the two of us are finished, the rest of you will pair up and spar among yourselves. Please remember that while we do need to be pushed to our limits, we are all still comrades, so please refrain from any debilitating blows. That being said, we have two official training months before we are required to begin missions, so we will be taking full advantage of this."

The rest of the shinobi leapt out of the way, allowing Kakashi and Naruto their space for the upcoming spar.

"Ready Naruto?"

"Hai!"

"Begin!"

As soon as the call was given, Naruto ran at Kakashi, who focused on defense. His goal was not to beat her, but to teach her, and so he adjusted his fighting style accordingly.

Naruto rushed in, thrusting her fist several times in an effort to hit Kakashi. Each of them was blocked by a single hand.

Changing tactics, Naruto jumped back and reached into her pouch, pulling out several kunai and throwing them.

Kakashi countered by catching the closest one and blocking the rest. When the rest of the kunai were safely knocked away, he threw the kunai at her.

The kunai met a log, and Kakashi's face crinkled in satisfaction. It seemed as if Naruto was able to perform that almost instinctively, which was a vast improvement from when they started a week ago.

Kakashi formed three water bunshin, sending them charging at the bushes to his left. He could see that she was hiding there, but he had to admit he would have missed her had he been a chunin. Her talent with stealth was something that had been developed even before anbu.

The group of shinobi watched as the water bunshin entered the treeline to engage the genin. The engagement lasted only half a minute, before the three bunshin emerged. Naruto was nowhere to be found.

Kakashi frowned, calling the bunshin back. He eyed the treeline with suspicious eyes.

He waited tensely.

He heard a battleccry behind him and whirled around. Naruto was there, charging him with a kunai.

Five seconds later and Naruto was sitting on the ground and wheezing from the kick that had downed her.

"Very good Naruto. You're taijutsu is getting better, and you performed the replacement technique perfectly. However, you're replacement had several details that were missing or wrong, so I was able to see through your disguise easily. You'll need to practice that even more. Also, Never give away your position before you attack."

"Hai Taicho Sensei…" Naruto wheezed.

"Tano, since you already know Noda, I suggest you spar with Kenta for now. Noda and Itachi will spar after."

The two walked into the clearing, warming up for their spar. The four others backed off to the sidelines. Itachi waited for Naruto and Noda to become engaged in conversation before he approached Kakashi.

"Kakashi Taicho… a moment?"

"What is it Itachi?"

"Naruto's training seems even more underdeveloped than Hokage sama implied. Are we are to train her from scratch?"

Kakashi scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "That's about right. We've got the two month standard training time to get her to at least chunin level before we have to start doing missions. Considering the circumstances, Hokage sama has reassigned all five of us to train Naruto up to where she needs to be, anyone else wouldn't have enough time or patience to work with her."

Itachi nodded, confirming his own theories. "I believe that to train her properly I will need to know exactly where she is in her training. How much chakra does she have and how much control does she have over it? What other things does she know that wasn't displayed in her spar?"

"Aren't you a serious kid." Kakashi smiled. He handed him a small file. "Hokage sama though it wise to put this together for me to hand out to all of you. If we are to succeed, we need to be coordinated, which means we need to work together and communicate. In there is everything you need to know about Naruto's progress."

Itachi took the folder, flipping through the pages with a studious air. He looked up at kakashi. "She cannot perform the standard Bunshin?"

"So far no. She has a lot of chakra, and we haven't had the time or much luck in her chakra control training."

"Do you think she has enough for the Kage Bunshin?"

Kakashi quirked his eye. "Perhaps. Are you suggesting we teach it to her?"

"I am merely pointing out the potential benefits, so that we may think it over. She seems to hold enough chakra to create at least one harmlessly. If she does hold enough chakra, and we do teach it to her, we can double the rate of which she learns theoretical material. In which case it will make it easier to make the requirements within the time frame."

Kakashi mused over Itachi's words. "I will bring it up with Hokage Sama. It's up to him to make the final say, but you did bring up some good points Itachi San."

Itachi nodded, and the two turned back to watch the spar, which had ended with Kenta's victory.

Danzo flipped through the reports with displeasure, nearly cursing himself.

He refrained, but only because he was not the sort to curse aloud. He was supposed to be dignified and in control of his emotions. Cursing was something one did when lost in emotions.

Even without his cursing, Danzo was upset with himself. Livid, in fact. All because of an obvious oversight.

An obvious, dangerous oversight.

He had spent so much time preparing to capitalize on little Uzumaki's mistake that he had completely ignored the other project he had been working just as long on. The Uchiha project he had spent years plotting.

He had nearly forgotten all that time spent discrediting the Uchiha, spreading rumors and moving accounts and generating fear and unrest. All in an effort to destabilize the powerful Uchiha clan and ensure they did not grow too powerful.

Alas, he could not afford the Uchiha attempting a coup. Not now. Sure, they could take Hiruzen out of power, and they could take out all of his supporters, or else weakening Hiruzen's faction enough for Danzo to swoop in and take over.

However, no one would be able to stand up to the hornets nest of Iwa that Danzo had recently begun poking.

The only good thing about this was that there was still time for Danzo to fix this. The peace talks were still ongoing, and last Danzo heard the coup was still nothing but talk. If Danzo was careful, he could control the damage and allow it to fix itself. Maybe even use the upcoming conflict to paint the Uchiha in a better light, thus increasing their status back to where it had been previously.

Besides, with the war around the corner, Danzo would not need to instigate the Uchiha to do his job. He'd just need to allow Hiruzen and his faction to exhaust themselves fighting Konoha's real enemies, and then swoop in after, when both parties where recuperating.

In his mind, this was a much better strategy. Not only would he eventually control the village, but the Uchiha would still be around and he'd have the perfect weapon in Naruto Chan.

Nothing could go wrong. Danzo wouldn't allow it.

He continued searching through his paperwork, pausing when one of his tools passed him a note. He smiled at the information scrawled onto it.

Sarutobi had assigned Itachi to the team with the container, did he? Well, he'd just use this as the first of his rumor campaigns. Sarutobi trusted an Uchiha enough to help mentor the future weapon of Konoha. The greatest of honors, surely. He could even spin it so that no other clan had been trusted enough, as obvious from the lack of clans represented in the team.

He ordered several root members to disguise themselves and start spreading the rumors. One avenue was closed now, but another had opened. It was best for the old door to stay closed.

Several hours later, Kakashi stepped into the Hokage's office.

"Kakashi San, how did the team training go?" The third Hokage questioned with a cordial smile.

Kakashi heard the untold order, and began debriefing. "The team is assimilating nicely, and seems to be fairly balanced in terms of capabilities. Naruto was given several pointers, and all shinobi present freely offered their services when asked. Also, I believe a few of them may already be attempting to form bonds with her, Noda in particular dragged Naruto and Itachi with her for ramen." When he said dragged, he meant Naruto ran alongside Noda, while Itachi was literally dragged behind the two.

The third Hokage gave his pipe a puff. This was only the first day, but Sarutobi was glad it went this well. No mistreatment from Naruto's teammates was his number one priority, and it was why he went to such lengths to ensure Naruto's first team was unbiased.

The Third looked up, surprised to see Kakashi still contemplating. "Is something on your mind?"

"Itachi San addressed me with some concerns over Naruto's training. He specifically pointed out that she had enough chakra for a shadow clone, and suggested we teach it to her to maximize her training effectiveness."

The Third Hokage mused over this. "I suppose the idea has merit. My only concern is that she would potentially summon too many, and experience severe mental backlash."

"If I may, Hokage sama?" At his body, Kakashi pushed on. "I suggest we teach it to her under the condition she only ever uses it under supervision. At least until she's old and/or experienced enough to use it on her own safely. That way we can supervise her to ensure she doesn't harm herself while complimenting her training with clones."

Hiruzen thought about this for a few moments, weighing the pro's and con's while sucking his pipe. It couldn't hurt her, could it? She did need all the help she could get, especially because he felt that she would be facing trouble in the future, despite his control over her protection while she was in Anbu.

"Very well Kakashi. I will allow you to teach her the Kage bushin jutsu. Make sure she understands that until you declare her to have mastered it she will only perform it while under your supervision or the supervision of someone you appoint. Understood?"

"Hai Hokage sama."

"You are dismissed."


	4. Episode 4: Increasing Tensions

The town of Kosaten was a fairly busy town, located in the land of grass. The land of grass itself was part of a chain of countries lying in between the land of fire and the land of earth. People who wanted to avoid either country, for whatever reason, used these countries to bypass both the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth.

The town itself lay on the crossroads of two trading routes, which brought the town visitors in the form of tourists, traders, and important dignitaries.

Unfortunately, where there were trading caravans, tourists and dignitaries, there were also shinobi.

Specifically, shinobi of different villages.

Because the land of grass was currently unaffiliated with either Konoha or Iwagakure, travelers differed in which shinobi they hired for assignments.

And that led to the current situation, where two teams from either village were glaring at each other from across the street.

Senka was an average Jonin, if you asked his friends about him they'd tell you that he was terribly average. Average looks, average skills, average hobbies. It spooked them sometimes, how average he was.

If you asked Senka, he'd agree. With one addition... He hated Iwa with a passion.

The deaths of nearly every single family member of his could be traced back to some Iwa shinobi. The closest brush with death he ever had was from an Iwa shinobi, the man having gave him the scar on his chest that ran down to his hip.

For all of his hate of them, however, Senka loved his village and his Kage more.

It was this thought that helped him to refrain himself, to hold both himself and his fellow shinobi back and avoid a fight. Picking a fight on neutral ground would only cause problems, and Kami knew the Hokage had enough to worry about without a war with Iwa. With those words, he convinced his comrades to begin walking away from the fight.

It seemed as though the Iwa shinobi did not have the same restraint, because the moment he turned his back, a kunai sailed past his ear. While the kunai barely missed, he felt the wind dig into his ear, leaving a bloody nick.

"What the fuck?! You tried to kill me!" Senka yelled angrily. His fellow Konoha shinobi followed close behind him, visibly supporting him as they all stomped over to the Iwa shinobi.

"Oh, was that what that was? I apologize, you tree-huggers are too soft to handle a greeting gift!"

"Why you!?" Senka growled. One of his comrades stopped him from jumping the Iwa Chunin.

"If I remember correctly, it took only one of us tree-huggers to demolish an entire division from your village."

The Iwa Chunin growled, and Senka smirked. "What are you rock heads even here for?"

"None of your business, tree-hugger!"

Senka shrugged. "Doesn't really matter to me. Now if you'll excuse me, we have a client to protect."

"Who would even hire you? Your village is filled with nothing but phony shinobi!"

"And yet, we're still much more powerful than you."

"You wanna bet?"

"Maybe I do, after all, I know I'm right. Might make a few extra lien."

"You look like you need it peasant. Maybe your Hokage should drop dead. Then you'd probably get someone who can manage your finances better, oh wait no, I forgot your Hokage isn't a paper pusher! Its hard to tell with that old fossil."

"Don't you dare mock my Hokage you prick!" Senka growled. His fellow shinobi dragged him back.

"Just forget it man, they aren't worth it. Let's just complete the mission and get home.

Senka growled and followed his comrades, grumbling angrily under his breath. Nevertheless, he followed them after their client.

Unfortunately, the Iwa shinobi followed after.

Two streets later, the Iwa shinobi attacked the Konoha shinobi's client.

And from there it devolved into a brawl.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed heavily, reading the most recent mission report. He rubbed his tired eyes, signing off the bottom of the document and putting it back in its file, setting it aside to show it had been read. While Senka had been doing his job, the fight before hand, though verbal, did not help the third Hokage at all.

The worst part was that that report wasn't the only one of its nature. His whole desk was littered with complaints from clients, mission statements, letters and notes, all about recent hostilities with Iwa.

He had also been handed a scroll from Iwa, most likely from the Tsuchikage, and most definitely to complain about his shinobi.

He'd read it after his break.

The Third Hokage pulled out his crystal ball, looking at various shinobi's progress. Smiling at their successes and chuckling at their silly failures. The next batch of shinobi were shaping up well, and a few students from several of the years were already becoming quite skilled.

Sarutobi's heart grew heavy when he remembered a certain little girl who should be sitting in on those classes.

He shifted the ball's gaze to Naruto, watching her as she trained with her team. She also was shaping up to be an excellent shinobi, even if she had been forcibly fast-tracked. It eased his old heart to see her genuinely getting along with her team.

He chuckled as Naruto, with the help of Noda and Kenta, pranked Kakashi by filling the pages of his orange book with party poppers, resulting in explosive confetti every time he turned a page.

This was something he wished never to be disturbed.

It was most likely going to be.

Sarutobi sighed, deactivating the orb and turning to the scroll. He opened and read it. His annoyance flared, and his frown grew larger as he read through the letter. He scowled at the closing.

Sarutobi drafted his own response, sending it along to be edited and sent. He knew for fact that his crew of editors would make the letter formal enough for Kage eyes and yet perfectly portray his meaning of 'fuck you' quite adequately.

The next few months would be difficult, no doubt. But Konoha would endure.

Shikaku Nara rubbed his nose tiredly. He sighed, staring at the large blown up map of the entirety of the continent.

"Are you sure that this information is reliable?"

"It is. I received the information a few days ago from our spies. Naturally, I sent operatives to confirm the information before immediately bringing it to your attention." The Jonin in charge of foreign troop movements droned.

Shikaku studied the map, waving his hand to signal some shinobi to begin moving the pieces as instructed. He wrote down a note, handing it to the shinobi. "Make sure that this goes straight to the Hokage. He needs to know that Iwa is moving more troops to the border.

Sarutobi shook the grass Daimyo's hand. "Welcome to Konoha Akiyama-Dono. I hope your trip was pleasant?"

"Your shinobi made excellent escorts Hokage Sama, but I'm afraid that the trip was not pleasant."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Was there a problem?"

"Yeas, though your shinobi are not the cause." The elderly man sighed heavily, creasing his worn hands. "I will be honest Hokage Sama. My country is in trouble, and that is largely the reason for my being here."

Sarutobi leaned forward, projecting his interest in the man's tale.

"It seems as though the alliance the Neutrality Chain once had has fallen."

Hiruzen winced at this. The Great Chain Alliance was what was used to reference the chain of neutrally aligned countries that had allied themselves together in order to survive against the bigger countries on their borders. If that had fallen, it was a potential powder keg of problems.

"I'm sorry to hear that." And he was genuinely sorry. "How can I help?"

"It seems as though many of the countries are beginning to choose sides, allying themselves with either Konoha or Iwa."

"Our countries are not at war. There isn't really a side to choose."

"Let's not fool ourselves Hokage Sama." The Daimyō smiled thinly. "We both know of the increasing tensions between your two villages for the past couple months. The countries of the chain can feel it. That is why they are choosing sides now... they don't want to be unprepared when that tension snaps."

Sarutobi nodded.

"I believe it is the best interest of my country to ally myself with Konoha. Many of the others feel the same, though still many others feel differently."

"I see. Shall we talk politics?" Sarutobi poured the Daimyo tea, offering it to him.

Even as he did so, he could feel his hopes that the potential for war to stay small was slipping away.

—

Danzo watched his newest batch of recruits train. They had not yet begun the process of turning themselves into perfect shinobi, but that came with time. For now, Danzo was allowing them to learn the basics, and would slowly integrate the needed attitude with time.

He stopped his inner musings short, turning his attention to his root agent, who waited patiently behind him.

"Report."

"The Uchiha have largely mellowed out. They do not seem to be readying for civil war anymore. It is unknown as to their current plans, but they seem to be training themselves for the upcoming conflict with Iwa."

"And the situation with Iwa?"

"We have been seeding discontent into the heart of Iwa. We have rigged their economy, their stocks and sabotaged several sources of food. The average citizen is furious. As for the shinobi, we have performed a few key assassinations that have left them upset, and searching for unavailable answers. We have also leaked rumors that have raised a stir."

"Good. Keep the pressure up. How long until they go to war?"

"I would say soon Danzo Sama. They are already moving Troops and supplies. I have seen some spies wandering through town, and have already deployed agents to ensure they do not take anything of value."

"Excellent. You are dismissed."

The root shinobi disappeared, and Danzo allowed himself to grin. Soon, all his plans would come to fruition.

And at the end, Konoha would have its perfect weapon.


	5. Episode 5: The Domino Effect

Approximately 2 months after Naruto's drafting.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was once again seated in his office. Disregarding paperwork, there were many duties that a Kage performed for their village, both public knowledge and top secret. There was no one who knew more about the inner workings of a village than its Kage.

That being said, the position of Kage does not come with omnipotence. One would be a fool to expect themselves to know their village down to the last splinter. Despite the many techniques available to them (such as the Hokage's crystal ball) a Kage only had one pair of eyes.

Knowing this, one could forgive the Hokage when during his evening smoke (the daily period during evening in which he neglected his many duties to savor the delicacy of a homegrown 100% Konoha approved pipe smoke) he was shaken from drowsy complacency by the flap of an eagle's wings.

Hiruzen gazed at the bird that had entered his window, hand curiously untying the bundle of paper tied to its talon.

The red wax sealing the letter shut told a grim tale to the third Hokage. He didn't have to open it to know what it was. Even so, he unraveled the parcel to read its contents.

Hiruzen frowned at the words written in the letter. A note, written in frenzied urgency, carried with it only three words.

...

Border

...

Ambushed

...

Iwa

...

The bloody Konoha headband told Hiruzen that they had suffered casualties, two if he read the scratches correctly. Also, he knew that the skirmish came out with Konoha on top, otherwise he wouldn't have had a message come back.

Hiruzen's gaze turned upward to study the horizon.

Many more eagles were flying towards his office, bypassing the normal village owlery in an indication of vital information.

Hiruzen's heart plummeted.

The civilian council member slammed his hand onto the desk, feverish eyes glaring into the crowd. "These attacks cannot go unanswered! We should declare war on them immediately!"

The Third Hokage sighed at the actions of the now breathless council member. He folded his hands, listening as the room filled with quiet chatter at the man's words. "I understand your concerns Takahashi San. However, we cannot recklessly declare war on any Nation, especially one of Iwa's size and standing."

"Are we supposed to just sit here and let them attack us?" the man raved. "We'd be a laughing stock! The other villages will attack us if they sense any sort of weakness!"

The council member's words caused another round of whispers, mostly from the civilian side.

"That is one possible outcome." Shikaku Nara drawled. "However, If we do declare war on Iwa, it is inevitable that they would drag all their allies into the mess. And then we'd drag in our allies to counter their allies. Sooner or later, we'd be looking at the Fourth Great Shinobi World War. Do you really want the cause of that to be us recklessly attacking Iwa because of a few border disputes?"

"What should we do then, Hokage Sama?" Danzo spoke up. "Are we to ignore the threat Iwa is posing to us?"

"I never implied that we should ignore it." Hiruzen announced. "I already posted several teams of Anbu and Jonin on the border. I have also given them strict instructions not to pass the border's of any non Konoha allied countries. We do not need to incite war so foolishly."

"So, we won't be declaring war on Iwa?" Tsume Inuzuka clarified, a calculating look on her face.

"Not officially anyway. For now, I will have select teams of Jonin and Anbu guarding the border, as I have already stated. In the meantime, we will be advancing the curriculum of the Shinobi Academy. When the students graduate, it will be best for them to understand the flow of the battlefield. That does not mean we will have them graduate any earlier than they normally would, however. this is only a precautionary measure. Also, we shall be falling into a village wide state of war alert, and will be meeting later this week to lay out the groundwork for rationing and village security. I suggest that those of you who have to, meet with your clans and speak with them about this."

Sarutobi allowed the mutterings to die out on its own. He began gathering up his papers.

"You are dismissed."

The room began clearing out, both civilian and shinobi leaving through various methods. Soon, the only person left in the room with the Third was Danzo.

"What do you want? I'm very busy with the security of the village Danzo."

"I can imagine. Tell me, is Uzumaki on any of the teams stationed on the border?"

Warning bells blared in Sarutobi's head, and he turned to face Danzo. "No she is not. If it was up to me, she would still be attending the academy."

"And why not? She is a Jinjuriki, and this Village's weapon. She should be at the front of the battlefield, where she could save Konoha lives with her abilities."

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes in anger. "She has no experience Danzo! She would only be killed if I were to send her to the front lines. She is also only Seven, putting her in such a position would mentally scar her for life!"

Danzo frowned and shook his head. "I do not agree with you Hiruzen. She will gain plenty of experience on the battlefield. Besides, there have been many great shinobi that have grown up on the battlefield, such as Kakashi, Minato Namikaze, yourself…"

"You?"

Danzo paused, as if he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Yes, even me. Though I am far past my prime." he gestured to his various bandaged limbs.

Sarutobi kept his face neutral, even as he mentally scanned his one time friend. "The answer is still no Danzo. She is not ready for the horrors of war, She will only perish if we send her there now. We cannot risk squandering her potential before we can even realize it with reckless behavior." The Third turned to leave the room.

"If I may be so bold, you are the one who placed her in Anbu, Hokage Sama. Tell me, what is the Anbu creed?"

'First to the Fields of Battle, and last to the Forests of Home'.

Sarutobi twisted the words of the motto in his head distastefully. He turned to face Danzo. "I already have Anbu posted on the borders Danzo, they are the first to War. However, I would be a fool if I threw every last Anbu at a problem. There is such a thing as preserving one's strength to persevere through a longer period of time. This is the last time I will tell you this. I will not be sending Naruto to the front lines at this time, and that is final."

With that, and with thoughts to keep his eye on Danzo, the Third Hokage turned and left the room.

Danzo stared after him, watching as he turned a corner. He stared after him until it was clear that he would not be coming back.

"Report." Danzo's voice came out annoyed, and the root Anbu rushed to comply.

"We have done all as you have asked Danzo Sama. We have placed teams of Root everywhere that the Anbu and Jonin are not guarding, as well as formed a perimeter a distance inside the Iwa lined country's borders to stem the tide of Iwa troops."

"Pull the Root shinobi from the perimeter for now. Send infiltration teams into Iwa to destabilize their supply lines and to infiltrate their Village. We must get them to become more aggressive in their attack, otherwise Sarutobi will never send Naruto Chan to the front."

"Hai Danzo Sama."

Naruto sat with her team, leaning up against Noda. They had just completed another day of training, and once again she was left sore and exhausted.

But with those sore and bruised muscles came advances in her training, and Naruto could safely say (with Kakashi Taicho's verification, of course) that she was at least mid Genin to low Chunin in skill.

Naruto could feel Noda's hands running through her hair, gently twisting it and pulling it. Normally, Naruto left her hair down, or she could put it up in a ponytail if she was feeling annoyed with its length, as she never learned how to put her hair up any other way. Today, Noda had offered to fix her hair for her, and she had agreed. "If you like it, I'll teach you how to do it yourself," she had said.

So here she had been sitting, ever since their team exercises had ended just a few minutes ago, allowing her only other female teammate to fiddle with her hair.

"You're hair is so pretty Naruto Chan! What shampoos and conditioners do you use?"

Naruto's face flushed as she shrugged. Noda had been complimenting her hair since she had started, but even so, she had never really gotten compliments before. She wasn't used to it quite yet. She reached up to touch her hair, but her hand was lightly smacked aside.

"Ah ah ah. It's not finished yet. If you touch it now I'll have to start over."

Naruto pulled her hand back down in compliance. Even so, her eyes rolled up in their sockets, trying in vain to see what Noda was doing to her hair. This caused Tano and Kenta to chuckle at the sight of the seven year old, who had her eyes rolled to the top of her head and head quirking back every so often to catch glimpses of her hair.

"It's done!" Noda finally announced, hands pulling out a hand mirror so that Naruto could see her reflection.

Naruto stared in the mirror curiously. Her hair had been pulled into two braided buns, with the buns themselves laying low on her neckline. Noda had left a generous amount of hair on the front of her head stay free, forming bangs that hung low on the sides of her face and in the middle of her forehead. Her buns were tied using two red ribbon, which hung from her hair.

"I like it!" Naruto stated, continuously turning her head side to side so she could stare at the intricate braids leading to her buns.

Tano nodded in approval. "Very practical. Her hair won't get in the way during practice or missions, and enemies won't take advantage of its length."

"And it's very pretty too." Kenta added.

"And it's very pretty too…" Tano nodded. He paused, flushing somewhat. "Don't go putting words in my mouth Kenta!"

"You should just compliment the hair Tano, just because you're a man doesn't mean you can't compliment someone."

Itachi snorted. "You do have to admit Tano, that hairstyle looks good for her."

"Would you like me to put your hair up, Itachi Kuuun?" Noda teased, a Cheshire grin enveloping her face.

Itachi stammered before glaring at Noda, even as he subtly stood in a way that he would protect his own ponytail. "You will not touch my hair! I have taken plenty of time to ensure that it is to my liking."

"Which means you spent an hour at least combing through it after lathering it in shampoo and conditioner." Kenta grinned.

"Do you think he used his Sharingan to comb every last hair into place?" Noda suggested. "You have to admit, it does look immaculate. No fair Itachi Kuun, You aren't supposed to cheat like that!"

"The Sharingan helps you brush your hair Itachi senpai?" Naruto asked, eyes staring inquisitively at the Uchiha.

Said Uchiha flushed angrily, turning his head away from the group and crossing his arms defensively. "I do not use my Sharingan to comb my hair! That would be an insulting thing to use my Sharingan for!"

"He does! He totally does" Noda laughed. "No wonder his hair is so perfect all the time!"

Itachi grumbled to himself quietly as the rest of the team laughed at his misfortune. Naruto, being as young as she was, stared in confusion.

"Don't worry Itachi senpai, you're hair is pretty too!"

This just sent the team into further hysterics, and caused Itachi to deflate. Naruto smiled, even if she didn't understand the joke.

Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves, sweat dropping as the first thing he saw was a team in hysterics, a young Uchiha with a gloomy cloud hanging over him, and a young Naruto, glancing around with a confused smile.

"Yo"

The team calmed down at his appearance, turning to him with various expressions.

"Yo, Taicho, where have you been! We just got finished fixing each other's hair, so you can join us as we paint each other's fingernails!" Noda teased.

"Maybe some other time." Kakashi eye smiled. "Break time's over. We're needed at the Anbu armory. It's time for a certain someone to be fully initiated into Anbu."

Naruto jumped up excitedly. "You mean!?"

"Yep, you're getting you're very first mask. You passed the training, and will be able to take mission's as a fully fledged Anbu!"

The team cheered, lifting the blonde girl to their shoulders and carrying her towards the village.

"Hey, before Naruto's first mission tomorrow, we should go out and celebrate!" Noda cheered. The rest of the team gave various reactions of acceptance.

Root member Snake-five hid in the foliage in the dark. His team, while hidden from his view, were close behind him.

He and his team had been assigned by Danzo Sama to infiltrate behind enemy lines, and to destroy the supply lines feeding the Iwa troops stationed on the border. Contrary to a week ago, when they had been assigned to just within the border, to cull enemy reinforcements from entering too strongly past their own borders.

Snake-five knew that the only reason that Danzo Sama changed his mind was because the Hokage was not 'playing the game', so to speak. The Hokage was not assigning one Uzumaki Naruto to the front, which was throwing Danzo Sama's plans awry.

Snake-five squashed the feeling of jealousy from rearing its head, he wasn't supposed to feel emotions, and doing so would only send him to be reeducated. The reeducation process would take time- time which would otherwise be better spent serving Danzo Sama. Snake-five would not have that.

Besides, Uzumaki would be able to serve Danzo Sama's purposes much better than he himself ever could, Uzumaki had the entirety of a centuries old demon sealed in her gut, after all.

Snake five shook himself out of his thoughts, he was on a mission, getting lost in thoughts would jeopardize it.

He signaled to his team, hands flowing through top secret Anbu sign Language, telling them the mission parameters. They would be blowing up the caravan heading to the border with various supplies. Obviously, they would be carrying whatever they could back to Konoha, but due to the risk, it was better blown to smithereens than being caught with their arms full. The priority would always be to destroy.

He signaled his team when the carriages began rounding the corner. The shadows granted by the night, the cloud cover, and the foliage provided his team with the invisibility crucial to the mission.

One of the Iwa shinobi, in his tired gait, stumbled. Snake-five signaled his team.

Seven Root shinobi jumped out of the treeline and attacked the team of three Iwa Jounin. It took less than five minutes for the last Iwa shinobi to drop.

It took three minutes for the Root shinobi to scan through the supplies and to rig the carriages for detonation.

It took them thirty seconds to flee the scene of the burning wreckage.

It took the Iwa shinobi three hours to find the missing shipment.

The Root shinobi, by this time, had already hit three more targets and was working on their fourth.

They would get away undetected.

Naruto fiddled with the straps of her Anbu mask, mesmerized with her very first official mask. She sat with her team in the Anbu lounge at headquarters, where the table was laid out with all sorts of food and beverages.

Naruto looked up at her laughing team, smiling at their laughter and puzzling about their jokes. She giggled when Noda smacked Kakashi Taicho for a 'dirty' joke that Naruto was apparently not supposed to hear.

Naruto asked Itachi for help with a certain maneuver, rubbing at her forehead where he decided to poke it and grumbling at his answer of "wait until after the mission tomorrow." well, excuse her for wanting to keep training until then.

Naruto gazed at all of this, and marveled at how much better her life was now, compared to earlier this year when she had no one but the Ichiraku's and Ji-ji.

She hoped everything stayed this perfect forever.

Poor poor child.


	6. Episode 6: Intensity Intensifies

The day was bright and warm. A breeze blew fluffy clouds through the sky, gently rustling through the leaves of forest trees below.

Birds flew from branch to branch, whistling their happy little tunes to anything that had ears to listen. Various forest critters darter along the forest floor, content to live their peaceful little lives.

A bunny emerges from the undergrowth, nose twitching as it smelt its surroundings. It was in search of food to fill its belly, after which she would return to her week old litter.

The bunny gave a little hop, bringing her further into the clearing. she could smell a few wild carrots that grew nearby.

A clang rang out from above her, and she stilled with fright. ears high and nose twitching, she searched her surroundings for the strange sounding predator.

An earthy thud and hissing came from her left. Startled, she turned to the noise.

A strange shining object lay only four feet in front of her. tied to one end of the strange shining stick was a burning leaf. the fire was reaching the end of the leaf.

The bunny might not understand what the shiny stick or the leaf was, but she understood fire. she would have to get back to her litter and move them before the flames reached her den.

The little bunny began to hop away, surely she could find food elsewh...

Kakashi, Anbu code name Inu, grimaced at the wave of heat, noise and wind that came from the dangerously overpowered exploding tag. he had no time to observe the burned corpses of the animal life nor the splintered remains of the trees so violently torn apart by the explosion.

Instead, he blocked another wave of kunai that his opponent threw at him. The Iwa ninja scowled at his lack of success.

The two ninja stood apart from the other, sizing their opponent up. Kakashi took this time to look toward his team.

Otter and Monkey fought side by side against their own opponents. the two fought a pair of Iwa ninja who seemed to specialize on earth ninjutsu. Despite their opponents skill, the Konoha couple fought together perfectly. they weaved in and out of their opponent's guard, perfectly switching in each others attacks. whenever otter would drop into defense, monkey would pick up offense, creating a never ending cycle of attack and defense that the Iwa nin were hard pressed to keep up with.

Bear and Weasel were over by their newest recruit, and seemed to be doing well, if not entirely as cohesive as the several year couple.

Bear was using his brute strength and his talent for earth and lightning jutsu to cleave through the many jutsu his own opponents sent at him. Kakashi could see from the constant tilting of the man's mask that he was keeping an eye on the two youngest, ensuring they did not get overwhelmed.

Weasel dodged in and out of his own enemies attacks, using his many talents to keep his own foe at bay. from the way that the man swayed, Kakashi would bet that weasel's opponent was under a genjutsu of low rank.

Kakashi had to admire the young anbu's skill for half a second. Weasel had his opponent under a genjutsu this entire time, and he was still using various other jutsu on top of that. Not many people below the rank of Jonin could pull off multiple jutsu at the same time like that. the young chunin would certainly go places.

The last member of their little team was holding her own rather well at the moment, considering the circumstances. The young blonde had only a single opponent to deal with, compared to the rest of the team who had two or three (depending on who was grouped together).

Even so, for a girl who only joined roughly two months ago,

Even if his team was doing well, it didn't explain the mission turning into a cluster-fuck. Hokage sama searched through every mission available to ensure that they got a mission far away from the 'front lines' so to speak. They were miles upon miles away from the nearest Iwa hot spot of activity, in fact, they were near the border for the lands between the land of wind, which housed their allies of the sand village. What were they even doing all the way out here?

Kakashi could spare no more time thinking, his opponent had decided to charge. Anbu agent Inu met his opponents charge head on, deflecting the man's attacks and dealing out his own.

'how is Hokage sama going to react when he learned that this team still had to deal with Iwa, despite all the precautions he took to ensure Naruto saw as little conflict as possible?' was his last thought before he dedicated all his mind to the fight.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village thought long and hard as he idly searched through the many duties typically assigned to the anbu of his village.

Ever since his first inauguration as Hokage, the duties of the village had been split between the Anbu corps and the rest of the shinobi forces.

Typically, the genin, chunin and jonin of the village's main pool of shinobi were assigned missions from the many clients that came to the Village. Some shinobi were assigned different duties, and during wartime the active forces of the main pool off shinobi might be set to fight, but the rest of the time the shinobi of the Hidden Leaf sold their services to clients, in order to bring in revenue and reputation to the Village.

The Anbu forces were given a different task. They were to ensure the safety and security of the village at all times. Sometimes this meant selling their services to a highly reputed client that would greatly benefit the village in the long run. Other times, it meant laying down their life in a foreign land to ensure Konoha's security. Sometimes it even meant laying down your own sanity or innocence to carry out the Village's dirty work.

Most often, it meant dealing with a lot of grueling patrol and non glamorous duties such as guarding high security locations with little excitement.

The only question was, which one of these missions would best suit his purpose?

He needed a relatively safe job, something to break the newest official addition into anbu without endangering her life. Something that would break her illusions of the glamorous life of anbu that children her age no doubt formed, but not too tough that it would mentally damage her. It also had to challenge her, because no matter how much he wished against it, she would need to grow as much as possible to fill in her role as Anbu.

He couldn't just assign her to any random building in Konoha and tell her to guard it with her team. First off, that would be demeaning towards the rest of her team, and there was the possibility that some of them might grow to resent or disapprove her presence on the team because of it. Secondly, he couldn't do it because then her skills would stagnate, her training would never stick, and because then she would only become a drain on their resources. There were members of the council just waiting for any opportunity, any flaw, to justify a reason to lock her away or in some way otherwise do away with Naruto. If they thought she was a drain on resources, there'd be no words to describe how quickly they'd jump at the chance to kick her out of anbu and lock her up for life.

Or worse.

On a similar note, Hiruzen couldn't just throw her off the deep end and hope she floats. He had reasons, both ethical AND practical, on why that shouldn't be done. a quick teaser: one, it would be a horrible thing to do to anyone, let alone the girl that ye practically saw as family since the time he'd taken care of her while she was a babe. Two (for those who only care for

the practical reasoning) it would be a waste of Konoha's resources, and a waste of a shinobi with great potential for an even greater future.

There was now way he was sticking her anywhere close to any patrol routes along Iwa activity hot spots.

And he shouldn't even have to start with why sending her on some assassination mission was a bad idea.

Unfortunately, that left very little beginner level missions he could send the team on.

And that there is the dilemma he is currently facing, sitting at his desk, in front of the very team in question, listlessly flipping through his paperwork in an attempt to look concentrated, and avoid questions.

He studied the various routes of patrol currently needing personnel. Most of the routes were already filled, leaving only the Iwa hot spots and some routes closer to their allied borders. Naturally, he chose the one furthers from Iwa activity.

He cleared his throat, looking up to see he had gained the attention of the team. "Team Inu, you're mission is simple this time. You are to travel to patrol section 34, at checkpoint 12. Once there, you are to patrol that section in the direction of checkpoints 11 and 10, where you will meet team who will take over for you. Once you have completed your round, you will wait at patrol checkpoint 10 until you are relieved of duty by team Karasu. Once relieved, you will come back to the village and report to me."

"Hai Hokage Sama." the team intoned. Kakashi, as the team leader, took the mission scroll from the Hokage. once the scroll was in his hands, the team respectfully bowed as one.

"Then I wish you luck. Inu, Monkey, Otter, Bear, Weasel, Ocelot." The Hokage gave an acknowledging nod to each of them in turn, starting from Kakashi through to Naruto.

The team turned and departed. (Once again, they walked through the door for the convenience of their newest member, as she had yet to perfect the sunshin technique just yet.)

The team had a long way to travel, two days of travel as the Chunin tree-hops to be specific. As such, the first part of the journey was spent in silence with the goal of making it as far from the village before night fell. Once the last ray of sunlight began disappearing, the group settled for the night.

The next day the mood was considerably lighter, they had a whole day before they reached the checkpoint they would start their patrol from. The day was spent talking and planning training sessions they could complete on the move and when they got back to the village.

The third day was spent tenser than the first. the were reaching their destination, and were much closer toward enemy lines than before.

While Hokage Sama made sure to assign them a less active patrol sight away from enemy movements, there was always the possibility to engage with some kind of adversary, it was best to err on the side of caution with these things.

They made it to the Checkpoint with no incident, picking up the patrol route from the previous team when they arrived several moments later.

From there, Inu led his team towards site 11, ordering them to keep their eyes peeled for any signs of intruders.

The stretch from site 12 to site 11 was completely silent, showing no signs of life other than the natural foliage and animal life.

Once at site 11, Inu ordered his team to take a break while they waited for the next approaching team of anbu.

Anbu patrols were designed in such a way that there was always a team of Anbu in each checkpoint. They also had the team changed regularly every thirty minutes, only switching for their next section of their patrol when they were presented the mating mission scroll.

From there, the team then switched out of checkpoint babysitting, switching for the previous team's duty of running along the border in search of intruders.

With this setup, there was always a team of shinobi anywhere along the border, with another team of shinobi on either side, within 10-20 minutes of travel depending on the stretch you are talking about.

After nearly a half hour of waiting, Inu's team was relieved from checkpoint duty. They took the direction leading towards checkpoint 10.

On this stretch of the patrol, Weasel and Monkey spotted signs of a bandit camp, only recently abandoned. it would find its way

The team made it to the checkpoint with no trouble.

The team waited for their relief team to show, passing their time talking and playing cards. The entire team kept an eye out for trouble at the same time.

Thirty minutes passed. Then forty. Then fifty.

The older anbu members were suspicious, any sort of horsing around died out. the younger members, picking up on the mood, became wary and began eying their surroundings suspiciously.

An hour passed, the patrol team behind them arrived to take over the shift of the jonin team that was supposed to take over team Inu's.

Inu ordered them to keep watch over the outpost, instructing them to send a messenger hawk to Konoha and explain the situation.

Inu then ordered his own team to follow behind him to investigate the path ahead.

Kakashi-Taicho led the team through the upper limbs of the trees. The forest below sped past them almost faster than Naruto could track.

Her eyes were glued to the forest below them, determined to find any sort of clue that could point them in the direction of the missing patrol.

Unfortunately, Naruto knew that her own efforts would not be what found the clue. she was surrounded by shinobi with much more experience than she. However, as Taicho said, it was important to learn the instincts and the signs through constant practice.

And so, while she wasn't the one who saw the bodies several feet away, and while she also wasn't the one the team looked to for evidence analysis, she did make sure to commit all the signs and maneuvers to memory.

Naruto followed Nod... err, Otter towards the site of the fallen patrol.

She stood to the side, allowing Taicho and Monkey to circle the bodies, analyzing the clues. Otter, Bear, Weasel and Naruto herself stood off to the side, watching the perimeter for enemy activity.

Taicho summoned a dog, conversing with it in low tones too soft to hear from her own position. Naruto was still relatively new to the idea of summoning, so the sight was still impressive. However, after training with Taicho constantly for two months, it was no longer draw dropping surprising.

The little pug disappeared, and Taicho approached them.

"The kill only happened around ten minutes ago. Whoever did it was fast, and from the looks of it they are still in the area. Stay alert, we will be going back to the checkpoint to report what we found. Hokage sama will organize a team that will come out here later to deal wit whoever did this." He turned to Bear and Otter. "I want the two of you two seal the bodies for transport. the rest of you, hold the parameter until they are done."

The group fired off confirmations, turning to fulfill their assigned duties.

It took the two five minutes to finish sealing the bodies to anbu standards. Once they finished, they signaled to Taicho, who ordered them to move out.

They began running back in silence.

Ten minutes into the run, Naruto began to feel a terrible sense of foreboding.

"Did you notice it?" Otter asked. She motioned subtly to a tree they had passed five times now. "we're being watched."

Taicho held up his hand, signaling the team to stop.

"You are trespassing in the Land of Fire. Reveal yourself and explain your presence." Inu Taicho shouted into the forest.

Nothing was heard.

Taicho nodded to Weasel, who weaved the hand-sign for release.

He shouted out the command, disrupting the chakra around him and thus shattering the genjutsu.

Naruto's eyes widened. A large man was in front of her,arm raised and weapon poised to take her life.

"Ocelot!" Otter shouted. Naruto felt Monkey shove her out of the way, blocking the attack with a kunai and drawing his sword for a counter attack.

Naruto staggered to her feet quickly, defensively holding a kunai in front of her. she idly noted that Bear and Otter held defensive positions around her.

"What is your purpose here Iwa nin?" Kakashi Taicho nearly growled out, positioning himself defensively. "remember that attacking Konoha ninja on our land will lead to consequences"

One of the Iwa ninja stepped forward. "It doesn't matter to you what are motives are. You've stumbled onto us, and our orders were to move unseen. It is therefore our mission to end you."

And with that, they attacked.

Present:

Naruto had been fighting for what seemed forever. She had absolutely no time to think against these more experienced opponents.

She dodged three kunai that had been thrown within the span of a second, back flipping away from her opponent.

The man chased after her, and she, who had been on her hands in a handstand, clumsily wrapped her legs around his head and lifted herself up.

She rode the man's shoulders for half a second, eying her surroundings. it seemed as if everyone was busy fighting their own battles now. She could see that the forces they had been facing were half the numbers they started with, so that was good.

Suddenly, she spotted something fast approaching her from the corner of her eye. Nearly panicking, she dropped her upper body down backwards, flipping over the Iwa Chunin's shoulders awkwardly.

Naruto heard a dull cracking sound, and the man dropped, his neck sticking at an unnatural angle.

Naruto's heart stuttered with dismay, she hadn't meant to do that.

The young blonde had no time for remorse, the man's companion, in a rage from the demise of his ally, rushed her.

Naruto was forced back, dodging blows left and right. Thankfully, the man was enraged, and his blows were going wide enough for her to step out of the way.

The man noticed this, growling low. he lunged forward, stabbing at her with his kunai.

Naruto was almost skewered by the blow, the kunai ripping a few threads from her shirt that her grey anbu armor did not cover.

She turned to the man, ready to counterattack, when she saw it.

He grinned at her. switching the grip of his kunai, he turned the thrust into a wide sweep of the blade.

She was barely able to block the attack with her arms, the blade smashing deep into her forearm protectors and drawing a bit of blood.

The blow sent her flying back into a tree. her head met the bark with an audible thud, and she sunk to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

She looked up, her vision blurry and seeing double. The chunin began stalking towards her like a predator.

"You fucked up little girl. you should have let us kill you nice and easy. Now I'm going to have to kill you all painful like."

Two more Iwa shinobi dropped down from the trees, the lack of any vest implying the rank of genin.

"We need to get out of here Maseru san. This forest is crawling with Konoha scum."

"The mission..." the now name chunin growled

He was cut off by the other genin. "Taicho says the mission is a bust. something about bad information. We to move before its too late."

"Fine... just let me finish this stupid cunt off."

"Whatever. Just hurry up."

Naruto's eyes darted back and forth between the three, her breaths coming in panicky breaths. she honestly couldn't decipher what the three were saying at this point. she could hear them speaking, but it seemed like her head was too pumped full of panic and adrenaline she couldn't even understand them, despite speaking the same language.

Nevertheless, she recognized the hateful gaze he sent at her, the one that meant that the ones with those eyes would like nothing more than to end you in the most painful way imaginable.

She scooped her kunai up, pointing it at her three adversaries.

The chunin seemed insulted at her will to fight, Charging at her recklessly.

Naruto flipped over the chunin, landing harshly behind him. she caught herself with her hand and knee, her skin gashing from the dirt in the area where her shorts did not cover.

She didn't register the pain of the gash, nor the creaking if her bone from the bad landing. instead, she lashed out with her Kunai, slashing deeply into the chunin's heel. The man stumbled and fell.

She stumbled back to her feet as he cursed, turning to keep all three of them in her sights.

The chunin growled impatiently. through his pain, he shouted at the other Iwa nin. "what are you doing standing there! fucking get her!"

The two genin moved to follow their superiors order:

If Naruto was panicking before, she was well past that now. She was still seeing double, and so it looked as though there were four shinobi in front of her.

On top of that, she could see more shinobi behind them, either fighting with her team or seemingly just standing there waiting.

She stopped thinking and just moved on instinct. dodging through attacks, countering and striking back. She registered the color red at least twice, and she also heard someone screaming.

The Chunin was in her face now, eyes feverish and mad and nearly frothing at the mouth. His hands wrapped around her throat, squeezing tight. she couldn't breath.

The kunai that had been in her hand before was nowhere to be seen. Naruto clawed at the chunins hands and arms, fighting to just breath. blackness was creeping up the sides of her vision. Her hand met something metal on the chunin's belt. She pulled at it, producing a knife.

She stabbed at the man, in the sides, the arms, anywhere she could reach. the man still wouldn't let go. She was going to die.

Desperate, Naruto reached up and stabbed the man in the throat.

His grip failed, and the man reached up to his own throat, where the kunai was still plunged deep.

Naruto began crawling desperately away.

The man released his hold on his neck, grabbing onto her clothes and holding tightly.

Naruto could not look away from his accusing eyes, bloodshot and raving mad.

He glared at her through his gurgling breaths.

Finally, Finally, he slumped down, grip relaxing as his last breath left him.

Naruto scrambled back, grabbing another kunai and holding it close. no matter the distance she crawled back though, her eyes would not leave the corpse that stared listlessly up at her.

Someone grabbed her shoulder.

Naruto took a frenzied swipe at her attacker.

"woah! Naruto, calm down! its me!" Kakashi called, hands raised in surrender and stepping back from her swipe.

"taicho?" Naruto called weekly, eyes just now seeing her surroundings. upon confirming his identity, she collapsed into his arms. "I'm sorry... sorry. didn't mean too." she sobbed.

Kakashi held the blood-soaked girl tightly.

The rest of their team walked up behind them, glancing around their surroundings. there were six bodies piled around the forest floor, two of which were absolutely mutilated.

"Naruto did this?" Noda asked, visibly saddened.

"In times of survival, human's will do anything to live. it is entirely possible that she does not even remember doing this." Itachi attempted to calm her with reason.

"Besides, there was a lot of fighting. its entirely possible that not all of these kills were performed by her." Kenta suggested.

"Never mind that. It's clear that Naruto will need support to deal with the mental scars this mission might leave her." Kakashi sighed. He pulled the hysterical girl from him, looking her over for injuries. "She has a bit of bruising around her throat and several lacerations on her arms and legs. Monkey, please treat her wounds. The rest of you, begin searching the dead. we need to find out why Iwa came out all the way this way instead of trying to cross our border in their usual hot-spots."

His team got to work, and Kakashi stepped off to the side. He summoned one of his dogs.

"Yo Kakashi." the pug who was summoned greeted once the smoke cleared.

"No time for pleasantries Pakkun. I need one of you to take this message to Hokage sama."

"Right, I'll get right on it."

"I'm actually going to need you here." at the pug's questioning look, Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "Naruto's had her first kill...s." He finished lamely.

"Didn't she already kill a civilian in self defense before she joined anbu?"

"Hokage sama thought it wise not to tell her. Please don't bring that up now, she already has enough baggage to deal with today."

"Alright then. I'll stay with the kid and send another ninken to deliver the message. Doesn't mean i overly enjoy being used as a comfort pillow though."

Kakashi grinned weekly as the pug walked to Naruto. He idly noted that Pakkun offered her to feel the pads of his feet, before he turned to deal with the rest of his duties.

Sarutobi cursed at the message that the ninken dropped off.

What the hell was Iwa doing in sector 34?! that was miles off from where they were currently focusing their efforts.

It was unlike anything Onoki was known to do, the only time the fence sitter did anything like this was if he had some kind of information that proved to him that this was the more rewarding path.

What had Onoki discovered...

No... the question wasn't what had he found... the question he should be asking was who told him what...

The Third Hokage didn't even need to think. Danzo was behind this, he knew it! he had seen the man practically strutting up and down the mission request center, preening himself and seemingly invested in the day to day activities of the village. He was never so invested as he was when events went his way.

The wood he was clutching cracked, and Sarutobi gave an angry huff.

This was the last straw.

He called one of the Anbu sitting in hiding around his office. "Hai Hokage sama?"

"I want a team of Anbu to begin gathering evidence against Shimura Danzo. I don't care how you get the evidence, And I don't care if you have to forge evidence yourself. We are taking Danzo down."

Sarutobi could read the man's shock, even behind that mask. "Are you sure Hokage sama? You've never done something like this before. The amount of laws this violate..."

"Laws that I created to protect the people of Konoha, Laws that are being used to hurt the people of Konoha, and Laws that are holding me back from protecting the people of Konoha."

The anbu regarded the Hokage's words very carefully. "Very well then Hokage sama. As you demand it."

The Third Hokage nodded. "Do it quietly. Danzo cannot know of this. He will watch himself and erase his tracks, and then we'll never catch him."

several moments earlier:

Danzo listened to his root's report gleefully.

"And Naruto chan engaged the enemy? how many did she kill?"

"She engaged with six of the scout party Danzo sama. She only killed three of them, my associates had to step in before she was killed. They handled the enemy shinobi with extreme prejudice, as you commanded."

"Excellent! and no one spotted you?"

"None did, Danzo sama."

"I knew rearranging the roster would provide me the perfect opportunity! It is a shame she reacted so emotionally, but we all must start small." Danzo game a happy huff of air. "And what of our forces in Iwa?"

"They had to relocate after your last command. I would imagine that feeding the Tsuchikage false information would make him quite upset. Nevertheless, they shall return to their duties shortly."

"Very well. Keep an eye on Naruto and her team. if possible, slip her a few of the scrolls from my personal collection, Naruto chan must grow if she is to be Konoha's weapon, and we cannot afford her to be uneducated. I do not trust those fools that Hiruzen put on her ream to teach her the things I will need her to know.

The root agent bowed and left.

Danzo turned to the window, face barely showing any of the smugness he felt on the inside. Maybe he would visit the missions center later? He would be able to walk among the people he would be leading in the future.


	7. Episode 7: Time for Recovery

The Hokage's office was dark, the soft light of the moon and the city lights pooling in from the window being the only source of light in the room.

Soft shadows enveloped everything in the room, save for the room's sole occupants. The Third Hokage stood next to the window, absently sucking on his empty pipe. Behind him, dully standing at attention, was Naruto Uzumaki.

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled softly at the girl, patting the window sill opposite of him in invitation.

Naruto obediently stepped past his desk, coming to a stop just beside the window. The Third Hokage gestured outside. "Konoha is beautiful this time of night."

Naruto nodded.

Hiruzen continued. "Sometimes, when paperwork keeps me here late, I like to stand here and just let the sight wash over me."

Again, her only response was to nod.

Hiruzen sighed, disheartened. He let the silence envelop them for a few more moments and just stared outside.

"I'm going to be giving your team six weeks leave of duty. I wanted to give you more, but you've only just started duties." Protocol stated that Anbu coming off from any sort of break, or just being inductees into anbu, had to serve a certain amount of time before being granted any sort of leave. Hiruzen himself, many years ago, had added an amendment that clarified any exceptions to this rule, one of them being in the case of physiological trauma. The subject of this trauma would get time off to receive therapy. The Third Hokage could only hope that it was enough.

Again, Naruto only nodded, making Hiruzen's spirits plummet further.

The two stood in silence, as Hiruzen could think of nothing more to say.

"May I be excused, Jiji?" Naruto's voice came in almost a whisper, almost sounding subdued.

Hiruzen gave a nod. "You are dismissed. I will be giving Kakashi-san a therapy schedule and location, he will be taking you to them daily until I say otherwise."

Naruto turned to leave.

"One more thing." once he was sure he had her attention he continued. "I have arranged for you to stay atone of your teammate's homes."

And with a final nod, Naruto turned and left.  
______________

Therapy week 1:

Kakashi helped Naruto carry her bags into Noda's apartment. She would be staying here for now, as per Inoichi's instructions she was to spend as little time alone as possible. Noda, being the only other female on the team, was deemed the most qualified to take care of Naruto's more feminine needs.

Kakashi knocked on the door, waiting for his colleague to open her apartment in silence.

The door swung open to reveal Noda, who smiled at seeing them. "Hey kiddo." She turned to Kakashi, motioning to one side of her front room. "Just leave her stuff there for now, I'll take care of putting it all away later. I was thinking that we could all use some lunch before Naruto goes to her first session."

Kakashi breathes the air in through his nose, eyebrows quirking in surprise. "You cook?"

Noda snickered with embarrassment. "Not really, no. Any time I try cooking with fire my food comes out burnt. Tano-kun put me on vegetable chopping duty."

"Tano's here?"

Tano's head peeked around the corner of the doorway that led further into the house, and where Kakashi was now sure led to the kitchen. "Good afternoon Kakashi-Taichou, Naruto-San. Have either of you eaten?"

Kakashi shook his head in answer, getting a nod from the other man. "I thought as much. Make yourselves comfortable, we shall be with you in a minute. Noda, could you please pour them a cup of the tea we prepared earlier?"

"Got it." Noda left them to set their load in the living room, disappearing behind the corner leading into the kitchen. She returned a minute later bearing two cups of steaming liquid, which she set in front of them on some coasters. "Food should be ready in a minute. Can I get you anything else?"

Kakashi shook his head, before eyeing Noda curiously.

Said woman fidgeted under his gaze. "What?"

"You're a surprisingly good host."

She chuckled. "That has nothing to do with me and everything to do with Tano-kun. He drilled me daily on this kind of thing back when we first started dating. It kinda stuck."

"I will not allow those I care for to debase themselves with bad manners of any sort." Tano's voice called out from the kitchen.

Noda only smirked, pointing at the kitchen as a form of 'I told you so.'

Tano came around the corner then, carrying four bowls of soup.

He set a bowl in front of each of them, before taking his own and seating himself properly at the table. He waited for his guests to take the first bite.

"What is it?" Naruto asked curiously. Kakashi idly noted it was the first time he had heard her speak since earlier this morning. Her voice was raspy, carting an exhausted quality to it.

"Chicken and vegetable soup. Whenever I'm feeling down, I like to sit down with a nice bowl of steamy soup and just snuggle up in a blanket. Tano was kind enough to cook some for us today." Noda explained, and indeed - she was already wrapped tightly in a blanket. She plunked herself on the floor right next to her boyfriend, who ignored her breach of manners.

Kakashi watched Naruto from the corner of his eye, internally giving a sigh of relief when she began to eat slowly.

He heard Tano clear his throat, looking at Naruto with mild disapproval. "Please keep your elbows off the table." His voice came out mild, and Naruto hurried to follow the request.

"Am I not supposed to have my elbows touch the table?" Naruto asked, eyeing the table as she asked the question.

"In some places it's considered rude." Noda explained. She whispered something to Tano, who began to look embarrassed and nodded.

"Right. Naruto, if it pleases you, would you like to be instructed in proper etiquette?"

Naruto's head quirked in confusion. "What's etiquette?"

"Things like manners and whatnot. Consider it like proper behavior depending on your circumstances and surroundings.." Kakashi explained.

Naruto's face scrunched up. "Do I have to?"

"I believe it will benefit you greatly, actually. Some etiquette courses could help you with learning how ninja are to act when meeting clients and whatnot." Kakashi gave her an eye smile. What went unsaid were his other reasons. Sometimes the best ways to deal with grief was to be distracted from it for a while, and etiquette lessons with Noda and Tano seemed like a win to Kakashi.

Naruto's face scrunched up in careful consideration. Finally, she nodded. "Ok."

Tano took in a spoonful of soup, only marginally nodding his head as a sign that he understood. "First lessons will begin after tomorrow. For now, you should focus on your session with Inoichi-San."

"Speaking of which, it's almost time for us to be going. Naruto, once you're done with your food I'm going to take you to Inoichi's office."

Naruto nodded her understanding.  
_____

Kakashi waited for Naruto to step out of the room before he stepped into Inoichi's office, responding to the man's invitation.

"How was her first session?"

"A little rough. She's gone through quite the ordeal for her age." Inoichi shook his head. "With further sessions, we should be able to help Naruto-San deal with the trauma in a healthy way."

Kakashi nodded. "Is there anything I should know?"

"For now, only one thing. I myself have many duties and patients. I won't be able to make every single session with her. However, for the sessions I cannot make I have already found a trustworthy substitute. With the both of us, Naruto will be in good hands."

"Good. I take it Hokage sama already knows about the substitute?"

"He does. He screened everyone that would come into contact with Naruto. He isn't taking any chances, what with her… status."  
________________________

Week 2

Naruto growled, charging at her adversary. She slashed at her enemy, kunai posed for the kill.

No matter how fast or hard she swung though, her kunai wouldn't touch her enemy.

"Stand still!" She went to stab.

Her arm was jerked to the side by her adversary. She felt herself be lifted up,before she was thrown to the side, her back slamming into a tree.

"Naruto!" Her head jerked up, eyes meeting the backs of her teammates.

"Noda-senpai, Taicho! Stop!"

Her cries fell of deaf ears, the two charged.

Their adversary met their charge head on, slicing through their guards like butter. Within a second, they lay at her feet.

Naruto stared at the bloody kunai, eyes wide in surprise. She had only just been collapsed against the tree, why was she…

"Monster!"

Naruto's head snapped up. Bad choice.

Her adversary gripped her by the throat, lifting her up off the ground. Naruto kicker at her attacker, but no matter what, her legs could not touch the enemy.

Naruto looked into the eyes of her killer. She looked into the eyes of herself.

She stared back into her doppelgänger, who stared at her with cold apathy.

Her head leaned in close to her own, lips brushing against her ear. "Monster." She repeated.

Behind her, grotesque silhouettes formed from the shadows, eyes mocking and hateful. A blood covered konoha could be seen through the masses of shadows.

Naruto choked, gasping for breath. The grip around her neck tightened, further cutting off her supply of precious air. She locked eyes with her doppelgänger one last time.

Her cold facade did not waver. But her eyes were no longer a bright sunny blue. Rather, they err now blood red.

Something caught her attention out of the corner of her eyes. Her doppelgänger's arms were slowly turning a blood red. The redness grew further up the arm, until suddenly her doppelgänger was replaced with a red shadow. And then it collapsed into a puddle of blood.

Naruto collapsed to her knees, breath shaky and stuttering. She gathered herself, wiping her tears.

More red met her eyesight. Confused, she opened her eyes, only to gasp in horror.

Her arms were wet and shiny with blood.

She screamed.

Naruto woke gasping, eyes darting wildly around the guest room Noda had given her to use.

She was okay. There was no blood, and no creepy blood doppelgänger was out to kill her. She would be okay.

She reminded herself these simple things as she gathered herself from her whimpering mess, drying her tears. She wouldn't wake Noda up again, she was already going through enough trouble as it was because of her.

She spent the rest of the night with the light on, reading various retraining scrolls.

______

"Hello Naruto San, my name is Ichika Yamanaka. Inoichi-Sama is busy today, so I have been tasked with taking over today's session."

Naruto tilted her head, eying the woman who had just stepped into the room from her position on the couch. "Is he going to come back?"

"I'm afraid I don't know if he will, the nature of the emergency is rather personal. It's very possible that he won't be able to come back within the next five weeks."

Naruto looked the blonde top to bottom. She certainly seemed to resemble her therapist, from the blonde hair and blue eyes to the squarish jaw. She shrugged to herself.

Ichika took that as a stamp of approval, looking over the various notes her Inoichi had left her. "Now, Inoichi-sama told me you two were going over the mission. Unfortunately, I don't believe his notes are the most legible to me. Would you mind if we went over it all from the beginning."

Naruto's stomach churned, and she had to suppress a shiver. She did not like the thought of that at all.

"I'd sorry honey. I really don't want you to feel uncomfortable with me. If you need to, just tell me whenever you need to stop and we can take a break." Ichika teacher over to pat Naruto's hand comfortingly.

Naruto nodded, taking in a gulp of air. She began recounting from the very beginning, starting from the splendid trip to the Anbu checkpoint, leading through the confusion of not seeing the team that was to take over their shift, and finally ending with the terror of the ambush.

Naruto trailed off, staring at her hands in detached fascination. She could almost see the blood coating her hands again.

"Oh dear." Ichika sighed. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that. Normally only ninja of a certain age would have to deal with that. Unfortunately, we can't always choose the age in which we must start serving."

Naruto looked at the woman in confusion. "Wha?..."

"Is something the matter?"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you had your duty to carry out. If you didn't kill them, they would have killed you."

"So I shouldn't care that I killed them?! I shouldn't care that their loved ones will never see them again?" Naruto's voice carried a multitude of emotions, among these were anger, confusion, and regret.

Ichika sighed, stepping around the table to sit next to the blonde child. "You were both only doing your jobs." When Naruto's confusion wasn't eased, the woman took a lecturing tone. "Let me tell you something my sensei told me, ok? Ninja are tools of their village. We're made to be used when we need to be used, and discarded when the village sees fit to discard us. If it comes down to it, we must be willing to lay down our lives for the good of konoha, even if it means no one will lay down their lives for us."

Naruto looked away from the woman, face scrunched up with even more confusion. Ichika smile was a little strained.

"I can see it will take a little while to digest what I said. Let's call an end to the session for now, we can spend the rest of the time allotted to us for today doing something else. How does that sound?"

Naruto gave a distracted nod, and Ichika began to pack her things away. She pulled out a deck of cards. "Now, have you ever played go fish?"

Danzo stared at the woman kneeling in front of him with a hint of disdain. "Report."

"I have begun to lay the groundwork for your later lesions. Inoichi Yamanaka made some progress with the Uzumaki, but with a few sessions I can undue much if not all of what he has done."

Danzo turned away from the woman, eyes roving over the inside of his underground bunker. Good, the tool had its used, even if it had come at such an expensive matter, that technique would be available to him again, even if it took a while.

He turned and regarded the woman again. "We shall be escorting you back to your homestead. You will not remember meeting with me or any root agent. You will not remember the details of your session with Uzumaki-Chan. When asked, you will respond that she is taking to the therapy well, and that she is a healing rapidly. If asked further than that, deviate the conversation in a way that isn't suspicious. All you will remember of this evening is meeting with Uzumaki, having a nice, boring session, and then buying tea from the store. You will continue these sessions exactly as you have done tonight."

Danzo turned away from therapist, motioning one of his root to approach him. "Take this one back to her homestead. She's in a vegetable-like state now, and will continue to stay that way until you say a specific phrase. I want you to monitor her closely, inform me immediately if she is approached by any of the people on this list. More phrases and pass-codes will also be included, each with a different purpose for the puppet."

"Hai Danzo-sama."

"Do not fail me Crow-2. I refuse to allow the plan to fail."  
___________________________________

Week 3

Itachi rubbed the pits of his eyes in irritation. He stared down at the many slips of paper he had been delegated to this week. Tou-san would be upset if he didn't fill out his quota this week, despite the fact he had anbu duties to attend to.

Well, as soon as he was finished, he was going to take a break.

And by break he meant going to a training field and beating his frustrations out on a lot of something.

The sun was well below the horizon by the time the Uchiha finished his many duties. As it was, he only barely managed to get away from his mother's after dinner family gathering.

He walked through the streets, allowing his feet to carry him to the training grounds. As he walked, his mind was busy thinking of the various things he needed to better himself in. After all, if a ninja isn't growing, he's stagnating.

It was nearly an hour later when Itachi reached his destination. His mind was still heavy with thoughts of improvement.

He was knocked out of his thoughts by the sounds of training. Looking around, his eyes widened when he was met with the sight of training ground 7.

Itachi had meant to go to his family's personal training grounds, not this one. Well, whoops.

His eyes skirted through the clearing, searching for the source of the noises. His eyes met the back of a familiar blonde hair child. She was practicing something with a stick, and he wasn't sure whether to be amused or horrified by the implications.

"Naruto-san…"

"Gah!" Naruto spun around, eyes wide with fright and surprise. Her surprise was so great she tumbled to the floor. "Oh… Itachi-senpai, it's you." She gave a nervous laugh.

Itachi's mouth quirked with amusement. "What are you doing?" His eyes roved over the stick she had been training with.

"Oh, this? I'm trying to train my kenjutsu!" Her smirk fell. "I couldn't… I just don't want to be in the position I was last mission ever again." Her eyes took on a slightly haunted look.

Itachi sighed inwardly. She was too young to be feeling what she was, he could relate to her on many levels now. "What were you learning from?"

Don't get him wrong, it was good she was practicing. But if she was trying to teach herself, with no instruction of any sort, and no experience or guidance on how to properly create a fighting style, her training would be full of holes and errors. It was best to catch that way of thinking early on.

Naruto held up an opened scroll. "I found this in my mail this morning. I think Jiji or Kakashi-Taicho left it for me."

Itachi took the scroll from her hands, looking through the instructions it contained within. "Ah, the basic Anbu kenjutsu style."

"You know this Senpai?"

Itachi gave a nod. "We're all instructed in this during basic." He winced at his own carelessness. He studied the blonde, who had so suddenly been forced into this program with no shinobi background and without the promise of a standardized basic training. She had already come so far from where she was back then, but even so. Itachi kept finding holes in her training, training that had been accidentally neglected in their haste to fill her in on other things.

"Very well." Itachi breathes. "I shall instruct you in kenjutsu."

"Really?" Naruto raised her stick In excitement.

Itachi unsealed two swords. "We shall be using these. Training with a stick will not help you prepare for the weight of a blade."

Naruto dropped the stick, looking at Itachi strangely. "You just carry two swords with you?"

"A shinobi must always be prepared." Itachi answered sagely. "Besides, Anbu tens to break their swords a lot, carrying extra is a must when in such a line of duty."

After an hour of instruction and thirty minutes of practice, Naruto lay exhausted, staring up into the night sky. Itachi sat nearby, sharpening the now dulled blades.

The two sat in silence for a while. Itachi cleared his throat that awkwardly. "So… how was therapy."

Naruto's mood dipped. "It was OK."

Uh oh. "Is there a problem?"

Naruto shrugged, before looking off into the distance. Her face bore a look of deep confusion.

"Are ninja's really just tools of the village?"

Ah, so Inoichi went for the disillusionment route. "I'm sure that the therapist knows what their doing Naruto."

Naruto sulked a bit. "Hai."

The older boy sighed. It sucked that kids like them couldn't keep their childish thoughts of grandeur, but that was the way of the ninja world. "If you like, we can continue training like this. Just come talk to me whenever you feel like training."

Naruto's mood visibly perked up. "Thanks Senpai." She stoke and began walking back to Noda's apartment.

Itachi walked out of the clearing, feeling good. He'd really helped his Kohai. Maybe he'd look into becoming a Sensei after all this was over.

__________________________  
Week 4 and 5

Naruto grimaced, straightening her back even more. "Like this?"

Tano looked at her critically, walking around her to see her posture from all angles. "Much better. However, you must refrain from tilting your head so much. Remember, ninety degrees from both shoulders."

"Stop nitpicking Tano-Baka! Let her rest, you've been at it for hours!"

"Don't exaggerate Noda, we've only been at it for an hour and a half." He countered mildly. Even so, he nodded to Naruto in unspoken confirmation, allowing her a break.

Naruto was tempted to collapse in exhaustion, but having just spent over an hour going over why she shouldn't, she settled for seating herself respectfully on the couch and letting herself sink into the cushions. From the approving look she saw on Tano's face, she did it right.

"Why do I have to focus so much on how I sit? "

"It's all about how you present yourself. If you're going to meet a client and you show up slouching, yawning and disinterested they wouldn't take you seriously as a ninja. For certain missions, this is extremely dangerous, and can make the client rebellious to your instructions. It's best to show them that you take your career seriously."

"Kakashi-Taichou slouches."

"Taichou also has many years of experience and a reputation that people know about. He doesn't have to show people he's serious, they can just look up his deeds and know how successful he is as a ninja."

"Oh."

"Well!" Noda interrupted. "While you both are taking a break, what do you say to playing some word games?"  
_____________________

Week 6

Sarutobi watched Naruto and her team as they trained. Her quite happiness was uplifting to his old heart. He hoped the therapy he had sent her to was fruitful.

He sighed to himself, turning back to the reports of the border.

The entirety of the neutrality chain had indeed broken up, each country having allied themselves with the superpowers nearest their border. As it was, Hiruzen would say it was almost an even split.

Unfortunately, despite the many allies this had awardedKonoha with, it had also awarded them just as many troubles.

Despite the recent hostilities, the borders had been calming down significantly over the last couple weeks. Hiruzen wouldn't allow himself to be tricked into relaxing. This wasn't a sign of peace coming, rather , Hiruzen was sure they were at the breaking point of war. The only reason neither side was attacking each other now was because the next move would set off war, and after the last few ninja world wars, neither Kage wanted to be the one to launch the world into the fourth shinobi world war.

The third Hokage had already gone over many of the war measures. He was certain Konoha was ready for war, and he was certain they'd be able to stand tall after it was over. That is, provided he not overextend their resources.

A knock at his door knocked him out of his thoughts.

"Come in."

"The door opened, and a haggard Anbu walked in. "I'm sorry for interrupting, Hokage-Sama. The Daimyo is requesting an audience."

Hiruzen looked down at his stack of letters in confusion. No official documents had come through stating as much. "I haven't received any summons."

"That would be because he's here."

Sarutobi stood up from his desk, beyond shocked.

—

"I apologize for not meeting you sooner, Fusanosuke- sama. news of your arrival was… a surprise." Hiruzen bowed politely.

"I do not fault you for not knowing, Sarutobi-Dono. My arrival was a secret to all but my guards." The Daimyo took his cup of tea, sipping it with feigned tranquility.

The two were seated in a safe house just within the gates of the north gate. Only the Daimyo's personal guards and Sarutobi's own Anbu even knew they were here.

Sarutobi has to remind himself to be patient as the man sipped his tea. While it was true that the Kate's had the ultimate say on what went on within their village's walls, and what happened with their shinobi, it was always best to keep the respect of their Daimyo.

The Kage, after all, had the res lurches of their village and their surrounding villages. The Daimyo, however, had the resources and manpower of the entire country.

Daimyo's also employed the forces of loyal and brutally trained samurai, which were an even match with the average ninja.

The Daimyo of the Country of Fire gave a sigh, his shoulders slumping with worry. "We are in grave trouble, old friend."

Sarutobi quirked his brow. The men had not called each other that phrase in quite a while. It had been that friendship, in part, that had scared the other nations into the third shinobi world war. "How so?"

"Iwagakure has allied themselves with the Daimyo of the Land of Earth."

Sarutobi's eyes went wide, and his legs shook with shock. He sat down heavily into his chair.

"You are certain of this?"

"I am positive. We must stand together, or risk the entire forces of the Land of Earth invading us for seeming weak."

"And yet, by forming this alliance, we are only going to be escalating the upcoming war." Sarutobi sighed heavily.

"Either way, there will be war. We must choose the decision that will see the Land Of Fire and Konoha standing in the aftermath.

The Third Hokage took it back. Konoha wasn't nearly ready. No one would be.

This was so much worse than another shinobi world war.


	8. Episode 8: The Sparks that Lit the Keg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An assassination of a Daimyo starts the reaction for the war that has been building for months. No matter the outcome, to world will be changed.

Hashi no Kuni was only one of the many lands that once made up the bulk of the Great Chain Alliance.

It was a land known mostly for what it was named after. Namely, the many bridges that dotted its landscape to allow passage across the rivers that ran through the land.

The Nation was not a prosperous nation, it had no ninja village to use to its advantage. No special exports, no mines of valuable resources, no rare herbs or delicacies only found within their land. Despite the many rivers running through the land, there was not even an abundance of rare or delicate fish to become wealthy on.

It's main source of income was the same as any other ordinary country, the food they worked laboriously to raise and taking advantage of the tourism their lands unique terrain brought in.

Why then, would such a country be important in the grand scheme of things?

The answer would not be found in looking through the lands welfare or military prowess.

Rather, one would need to look deeper into the countries past political events.

Many years ago, just before the Third Shinobi World War, the Land was ruled by its loving Daimyo.

This Daimyo worked hard to bring prosperity and peace to the country he ruled, often making treaties and trade deals he felt would best benefit his people.

Unfortunately, as is the case in many stories, his political rival (who had been banished some years prior) used the turmoil of the Third Shinobi World War to rise to power in the neighboring country, Taiga no Kuni.

In the aftermath of the war, the Daimyo's political rival, now known as the Daimyo of Taiga no Kuni, used the weakness of Hashi no Kuni's allies against them. He sent in an invasion force, killing the Daimyo of Hashi no Kuni and instating a new Daimyo to be his puppet ruler.

The puppet ruler was known to the public as Nisemono Nakamato. Rather bold to put a puppet leader whose name literally means 'one who lives in the middle of lies'. But I digress.

The man has been in power since that moment roughly nine years ago.

History facts aside, Nisemono Nakamato was a man whose fate determined the lives of every living soul in the world.

Another such man whose actions would determine the fate of the future went by the name of Giri Akahiko.

Unlike Nakamato, Giri was a simple man. A citizen of Hashi no Kuni since birth.

A patriot, in on account of his father.

And he would not let his country be misguided any longer.

\--------------------------

Giri could remember the days of before. Before that fake took the role of Daimyo, before the children had to starve.

Giri was sane enough to admit that there had been rules sent down from the Phony Daimyo that expressly stated his people should starve.

No, it wasn't that simple.

Instead, Nisemono Nakamato disregarded his nation's decline. Most often, the food his people grew was confiscated by the imperial army, their price to pay for their 'protection'.

Giri knew better, it wasn't protection they offered. They demanded obedience, or suffer the consequences. His people were no longer free to ensure their own happiness, instead having to cater to the whims of the soldiers and The Daimyo. It also did not escape his notice that most of the soldiers 'policing' were foreign. Rather, they were strictly Taiga no Kuni in nationality.

Well, it wouldn't matter much for long.

No, it wouldn't matter for long indeed.

Giri would only get one shot to pull this off. There would be no second chance, the window was impossible to get in and out.

Luckily, he only needed in.

Giri stalked through the crowd carefully, eyes stuck on the figure in the topless carriage. His pace matched the pace of the horses as they pulled their load slowly through the procession.

If anyone noticed his shifty demeanor, they would not be able to do much about it. He was walking through the crowds of people, sticking to the shadows or the convenient cover of the milling crowd.

Most of the cheering was reserved to the front of the crowd, those closest to the danger putting up face to avoid death from the angry tyrant.

It reassured Giri of his goal. His people did not want to be ruled by this man any more than he.

The horses finally stopped in front of the steps of the palace, and the faux Daimyo stepped off the carriage. The weekly parade was over, and the crowd would soon be released to carry on with their normal duties.

For them to be released by the guards however, the Daimyo and his wife would need to be up out of sight and inside the castle.

Giri began to hurry forward. There would be no better time than now, when the guards were relaxing form being so close to the goal and before the Daimyo actually made it to the Palace.

Besides, there wouldn't be as many witnesses to the faux Daimyo's end any other way.

Giri made his way through the crowd, keeping to the throngs of people until he was as close he could get. Once there was no way to continue in cover, he jumped out of it and forward.

From the corner of his eye, Giri could see the shocked looks the guards gave at the charging civilian. He did not spare them any more attention, as most of them were too far away to stop him. And those who were in his way did not remain for long.

He ignored the screaming of the civilians and the full thud of the bodies of the two guards that had been in his way. Instead, he jumped up and into the carriage, withdrawing his pistol as he did so. He stared down at his quarry.

Nisemono Nakamato met his gaze, his face terrified and yet defiant. Giri would give the man some respect at that. He still had to die, however.

He could have made a speech. In fact, he would have preferred it. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to. Instead, he sent the best withering, meaningful glare he had at the faux Daimyo.

The man seemed to understand, because his face grew resigned before Giri pulled the trigger.

As the Daimyo's corpse lay cooling, Giri's eyes traveled to the Daimyo's wife. His eyes softened just the barest minimum.

The woman in front of him was not guilty of anything. If his scourges were correct, it was thanks to her efforts that many of his countryman were still alive, as she was directly responsible for refuting over half of the ill meaning laws and regulations that were rained down from above.

Unfortunately, Giri has one simple task, and that was to free his country from foreign rule. As kindhearted as she was, she was still foreign. The message he was trying to send would not be complete if she was left alive.

Giri unloaded the second bullet into the woman, who fell dead immediately.

Giri turned to the crowd, smirking happily. "Down with the foreign rulers! Long live Hashi no Sato!"

The stunned crowd stared up in silence, horrified at the violence they had just witnessed.

No, that isn't how they were supposed to react. They should be screaming with joy, or picking up arms to overthrow their foreign rulers. Why the silence?

Someone grabbed Giri from behind, pulling him of the carriage. He struggled, shouting out and biting his captors. This wasn't how this was supposed to be!

Stand and join the fight!

The crowd was beginning to be dispersed, the guards checking through the crowd for more dissenters. They would find none.

Giri began giggling. His fellow people were not fighting back.

He was early. Too early.

They weren't ready.

He bucked and writhed as the guards led him to be locked away. Locked away and thrown the key.

He would be free, they'd see. They'd all see. His people would fight back soon.

He was sane, entirely sane. Why would he be insane?

\---------------------------

It only took an hour for word to spread about the assassination of Hashi no Kuni's Daimyo. It took only two for Taiga no Kuni to declare Hashi no kuni as it's province. It went unsaid that Taiga no Kuni was looking to point fingers, and the neighboring country, Kodaina no Tochi, was the perfect scapegoat.

By the end of the day, Taiga no Tochi declared war on Kodaina no Tochi.

\--------------------------

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed heavily, his absent mind only partially focusing on his paperwork.

He's been having a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach since he woke up.

Now, he'd had many bad feelings for a while now, since poor Naruto-Chan had been forced into Anbu. This was only the latest in the many bad feelings he'd felt since then.

Didn't mean it was any lighter though.

He was interrupted from his musings when a Chunin entered his office. His gate may have been slow and polite, but Sarutobi spent years navigating the delicate Watson's that is politics, and many years before that in an actual battlefield. He could recognize fear when he saw it, no matter how masked it was.

Hiruzen gave the Chunin a curious lift of his eyebrow, and the man gave a crisp salute.

"Report from our contacts in Kodaina no Kuni Hokage-Sama."

Hiruzen gave an acknowledging nod. "Put then with the others, I'll look at them later…"

"It's urgent, Hokage-Sama." The Chunin cut him off.

Hiruzen beckoned the man to hand him the scroll. Once in hand, he opened and read it. His face turned ashen with the news.

Hiruzen set the scroll down slowly, letting his hands fill up his pipe with tobacco. He may appear calm on the outside, but inside he was a storm of emotions.

He did not say anything to the Chunin immediately, instead turning around to stare out the window. Once he had gathered himself, he Thurber to regard the Chunin. "Inform the top brass that Konoha is to be put on a state of alert. Gather the council together and get me a pen and paper."

The man ran out of the room to follow his orders. Hiruzen also gave the no verbal command for two of his Anbu guards to leave their posts. They would be following protocols that had already been set up in advance, they knew what to do by now.

Hiruzen blew out smoke, hands nervously knocking burnt tobacco out of his pipe. He had been preparing Konoha for months, nay, years for the possibility of war. While no one had declared war on Konoha yet, it was only a matter of time before someone did. After all, Kodaina was one of their newly acquired allies, and if Sarutobi didn't honor this pact, Konoha would lose every other ally for fear of being abandoned as well.

\------------------------------------------

"Sit still Naru-Chan! I can't fix your hair if you keep moving around." Noda groaned out. Her voice was stern, but her face was lit up in a smile.

"I can't help it. I can never make it look like how you do it." Naruto groaned out in so, she obeyed Noda's order to sit still.

"It comes with practice. If you really want to do it, you just have to keep at it." Kenta spoke up. The man was out of her line of sight for now, but the repeating sound of metal on stone told her he was still sharpening his blade.

"But then I'd never be able to do Naru-Chan's hair again." Noda pouted. "I refuse!"

Naruto smiled shyly. "You could still do my hair if you want."

"That's more like it!" Noda smirked. Tano, who was in Naruto's line of sight, fondly rolled his eyes at Noda's actions.

Naruto felt movement behind her, and she twisted to look at her older teammate. She caught the trail end of Noda's middle finger, but the older woman hid her hand when she noticed Naruto looking.

The four of them were gathered in the training ground for team training/ bonding exercises. They were still waiting for two members of their team, Itachi and their ever late Taicho, Kakashi.

Sure enough, as if summoned by her thoughts, Itachi entered the clearing, face barren of his mask. All of their masks were currently put away in their pouches, ready to be drawn when necessary. For now though, they were not required, as they were technically off duty.

Itachi trailed to a stop a little ways in front of her and Noda, his eyes roving over each member of their group. He gave a sigh when he noticed the lack of their last member.

"Taicho still not here?"

"Nope." Noda answered by popping the p.

"You know Taicho. We should be glad he's serious enough they arrive on time for missions." Tano shook his head disapprovingly.

Itachi looked to be withholding a groan. Instead, he set his scroll of equipment down by the side of the clearing.

"Well, since we'll be waiting a while, does anyone feel up to a spar?"

"No thanks." Noda immediately denied. "My leg is still sore from yesterday's spar. I'll sit this one out."

"I'll pass as well." Tano spoke up. Immediately Noda's teasing grin was upon him.

"What's your excuse?"

"Itachi's crazy strong for someone his age. None of my abilities would trump his, and his Sharingan will see through any trick I try and pull." His tone was defensive.

Noda wasn't having it. "You're just chicken."

"Like you're any better."

"I really am." She gave him a smug grin. "My spar with him was yesterday, and I'm still up for sparring with him so I can try and take him down. The only reason I'm not is because I twisted my leg during the fight and the doc wants me to take it easy today." She listed off. "You, on the other hand, haven't sparred with him in a week. More than enough for any injury to heal." She smirked.

"Maybe not every injury." Kenta joined in, smirking conspiratorially. "His pride's still hurt."

"Whatever." Tano sniffed, turning his head away stubbornly.

Itachi turned to Kenta, face lit up in the tiniest of smiles. "Kenta?"

"As much as I would enjoy a spar…" he held up his blade and whetstone "... my weapons need maintenance. A ninja is only as good as their tools and all that."

Itachi's gaze fell on her, and Naruto jumped with surprise. She wasn't aware she was even a candidate. "Are you sure you want me to spar with you? I'm not very strong."

Itachi's lips twisted into the tiniest of smirks. "That's what spars are for."

Naruto shrugged, getting herself up and into the small circle of dirt in the middle of the clearing. "I'll do my best."

Itachi entered the circle himself, eyes nearing hers. "I'll start off on your level of skill, and work my way up from there. Try to last as long as you can, and you'll get better as we go along."

Naruto nodded, and then stared directly at Itachi's eyes. Itachi's black eyes stared back.

She didn't complain when they didn't shift to the signature red of the Sharingan.

The two charged at each other, one strike meeting the other with a clap. And then they were off.

Being their age, both of them had been trained to use their small sizes to their advantage. Both of them had learned to rely on speed, rather than the strength they lacked due to their size. As such, the two were a blur of motion, barely able to be seen by the eye of those lower than a high Chunin rank.

Despite the similar speed training, the two's fighting styles were vastly different.

Itachi, being an Uchiha, was adept at reading his opponent's moves before they made them. His Sharingan also made it much easier to perform genjutsu.

As such, his style of fighting was to goad his opponent, making them strike at him (maybe earn a jutsu out of it.). He would take advantage of his ability to read his opponent's movements, having learned various grapples he could perform in a heartbeat. If you were a particularly stubborn app any, he would trip you up using genjutsu and elemental jutsu. He often played the role of support while in a team.

Naruto however, did not have a Dojutsu to fall back on. What she did have in her advantage was her level of flexibility.

The various members of her team had been teaching her to take advantage of this, and she was getting rather proficient in taking advantage of it while fighting. She had been trained a few grapples as well.

Another advantage in her favor was her large chakra reserves. When she had first begun using it in the academy, she was judged to have already had an experienced Genin's worth of chakra. Now, it was guesstimated time be around a mid to low chi in's level.

Unfortunately, the drawback was she had little to no grace when performing jutsu, and it was almost impossible for her to separate the appropriate amount of chakra into low leveled jutsu. The jutsu she could use, however, were more powerful than any Genin.

All in all, she was training to be a front line fighter. A heavy hitter, if you will.

Naruto sent a series of jabs at Itachi's body, each of them being blocked by said Uchiha. Rather than be discouraged, Naruto attempted to swipe at Itachi's leg.

As expected, he lifted his foot out of the way. Naruto jumped away, attempting to surprise him by flinging dulled kunai at him.

Itachi re-balanced himself quickly, snatching a kunai out of the air and using it to deflect those he deemed threats. Once the threat had passed, he flung his own at Naruto with pinpoint accuracy.

Naruto dodged out of the way of the blade. Unfortunately, doing is meant taking her eyes off of Itachi.

The Uchiha took advantage of this, blurring towards her and going for a strike in her ribs. Naruto blocked with her arm and winced at the power behind the blow.

She followed the momentum of Itachi's strike, tucking into a roll and sending her eggs to strike at Itachi's chin with a back-flip. Itachi leaned back, feeling the tips of Naruto's boots to graze past his chin. He stepped back and watched as Naruto perched, crouched on her feet.

Naruto clucked her tongue in annoyance. Not once had she landed an actual blow. She supposed she could cheer herself up with the fact that neither had he.

As if sending her thoughts, Itachi's lips curled into a tiny smirk. "Very good Naruto. Can you keep up with me now that I've upped the ante, I wonder?"

Naruto's eyes widened as Itachi sprinted at her. His movements were now faster than her, although not so fast that she could no longer follow him.

Even if she could still see him, however, she had trouble keeping up. Several times, she almost failed to block Itachi's strikes, and her own attacks were short lived and painful.

She broke off, breath heavy and skin sweaty.

Itachi looked like he merely went on a small hike. "Again."

Naruto cursed silently, using verbs picked up from the streets and her unknowing teammates. It was the last thing she did before she became too busy to think of anything other than the spar.

Itachi was going too fast now, his strikes were finding their way past her defenses and she could hardly keep was no longer attempting attacks.

"Last set." Itachi said aloud. "Unless you call quits?"

Naruto shook her head, thinking better if that decision after she discovered that Itachi was almost too fast to see. This time, she couldn't block over half his attacks. Finally, she stumbled.

Just like that, the attacks stopped, and Itachi was helping her up with a soft smile. "Now we know that you can contend with a Chunin level ninja if you need to. You need to work on your speed a little more, you started to stumbling halfway through the third set. However, you reacted very nicely to the attacks you could keep up with. So, overall, very nice job Naruto."

Naruto groaned, rubbing her sore spots tenderly. "How did you get so strong?"

"Lots of training and time. Don't worry, we'll help you work on all the things you need help on. "Noda called out from her seating spot."

Is that it? There had to be so something more right? That sounded too simple.

'It's only partially true...' The therapist's words rang in her head. '... that strength comes from training. One must always have something to fight for. Do you, Naruto-san?'

She had shrugged then.

'Most ninja do. Some fight for family and comrades, others for money. The best ninja don't fight for these things.'

'What do they fight for?' She had asked.

'The village they've sworn to protect. The best ninja follow the orders of their superiors, because they know that by doing so, they have the best chance to protect their village.'

What do you want to fight for?' The therapist had asked innocently.

She didn't know the answer.

Where did strength come from?

\---------------------------------

Kakashi strolled to the clearing, eyes glued to the sky.

He lowered his gaze when he reached the training spot, being greeted by the sight of his team. It seems as though Naru-Chan and Itachi-kun had sparred. Good for them.

"Morning everyone" Kakashi drawled lazily.

"You mean Afternoon, Taicho! You're late!" Tano shouted.

Kakashi acted surprised. "Am I?" He turned to face the sun, hand stroking his chin to mime deep thought. "I dunno, I think I'm early. See, the sun's just a bit to the left of 12:00."

"It would be, if the sun rises in the west."

Kakashi gave his best flabbergasted face. "It doesn't?"

Tano fumed, muttering various curses and hands reaching out to choke him from his spot by the trees. Kakashi gave her a cheesy grin.

"Would you answer when I ask what took you so long" Kenta piped in.

" I got lost on the road of life." He supplied. Noda, wanting time dig at her boyfriend a bit, smirked at Tano.

"The road of life is long and weary indeed."

Tano lifted his arms in surrender, face giving off waves of done energy.

"Well, since I am late and you all have taken it upon yourselves to train and bond, I think it is my duty as team captain to treat you all to some lunch before we get into the real exercises." As he said this, he unsealed a basket of food.

The members of his team gave sounds of joy and moved to clear a space to set the blanket.

Kakashi noticed Naruto stayed where she had been standing. She looked to be conflicted about something.

He walked up to her, gently grabbing her shoulder. When he had her attention he spoke. "You ok? You didn't react when I brought out the food." Hadn't reacted to his arrival either. Ouch.

"I'm ok." She gave him a small smile, as if to assure him she in fact was.

He wasn't so sure. He also wasn't the best at his own feelings either. "Well, I brought food. Do you want to join the others?"

She nodded her head, about to sprint off. He held her back gently. "One last thing. You know that we're willing to help you with anything right? That all you have to do is ask?"

She looked conflicted again. But she nodded at length.

He sighed. She'd tell him when she was ready, he guessed. "Ok, just let somebody know if you want to talk about it. And if you don't feel like talking to us, the therapist can be called in if you want to talk to someone a little more professional."

She nodded quickly. Therapists weren't that bad, but he himself didn't really care for revealing his deepest thoughts wither, she he could guess her discomfort when faced with a therapist.

he watched her rush to the picnic basket, taking food offered by Itachi. Well, at least she had a team walking to help her through this.

He declined their invitation to eat. He'd had a late breakfast, and figured he'd bring the team lunch while he was at it. Instead, his eyes roamed over the skyline of Konoha.

'Those sure are a lot of hawks.' He thought worriedly.

\-----------------------------------

Indeed, at this very moment, Konoha intelligence was scrambling. They were rushing to and from stations, opening messenger scrolls, copying messages to scrolled reports, and then sending the compiled reports on their way. Others focused on transcribing the messages delivered to them into tiny message scrolls, rolling them closed and attaching them onto the birds.

Those birds were then taken by other intelligence ninja, who fed them and watered them before their long flights to their destinations.

Normally they wouldn't be this frenzied in their work. Maybe just as busy, but not frenzied.

They also weren't normally carrying news like this.

Ten more nations formerly belonging to the neutrality chain had declared war on each other, desperate to aid their allies in the battle against their foes.

This news must make it to the Hokage immediately.

\-----------------------------------

The Hokage was in a meeting.

The meeting was with the village council, obviously. He wouldn't accept a meeting with just anyone at a time like this.

Even so, he wished he didn't have to deal with this. Even if the action he was taking was a long time coming.

"What do you mean we've been disbanded?!" A pudgy man yelled. Hiruzen distantly recalled that the man had recently taken the position from his predecessor, and had yet to be worthy of it. His name hadn't been worth remembering. Besides, he had been one of the ones advocating for Naruto to face... severe consequences

Instead of answering, Hiruzen quirked his brow at the man's tone. He was very close to deciding to screw it and show this upstart civilian exactly why he was called the professor.

"I apologize for Jirou's behavior, Hokage-sama." The civilian spokesperson, Mebuki Haruno, spoke kindly. "But I do think we should at least receive an explanation, at least, for why the civilian council is being let go."

Hiruzen thought about it. As much as he would enjoy leaving them in the dark as payment for the attitude he's had to put up with all these years, he would admit that things overall would be much easier for him if they received an answer. Besides, out of all the civilians here, he tolerated Mebuki the most. She was actually polite, unlike many of her associates, and she also had been one of the ones who disagreed with the opinions of the civilian council during that incident last year.

It was unfortunate that she still somewhat disliked Naruto, but at least she never went overboard with it.

Perhaps, that was why he decided to humor her.

"I am disbanding the civilian council for one simple reason." Hiruzen's voice traveled the room. "We will be in a state of war by the end of the week. As much as I wish I could pretend we won't be, the signs are all pointing towards it. I cannot carry the country through wartime if I have to worry about dealing with a political minefield at home."

"That isn't fair! What about the shinobi clan council?!" The same chubby man shouted.

"What shinobi council?" He asked rather simply. "The one I just disbanded before this very meeting?"

The man gave a grumble at having been called out so. "How are we civilians going to get out interests and concerns across if you silence us so? I won't have it!"

"I've already thought of that. We'll be using the system of government organization we used during the last few wars."

The man preened himself. "Yes, well. I guess I can settle for a civilian governor. As long as we still have a voice."

It was obvious to the entire room that he coveted the power of the position. Luckily for Hiruzen, there was only one person he actually marginally trusted with the position. He wasn't giving any non worthy civilian the chance.

"Good, I'm glad we can agree. "Haruno-san, do you accept the responsibility of governing the civilian portion of Konoha while we are at war."

There was no need for a ninja governor, he himself would be taking full control of the ninja forces.

Several noises of surprise flowed through the room, and Mebuki struggled for words in her own shock. "I-I would be honored Hokage-sama."

"Very well. The rest of you, leave. Haruno San, if you would follow me, I have a list of rules and regulations you will need to begin regulating by the end of the week. Of course, I can give you the rest of today to do any research you need to adequately perform your position if you need, but I'm afraid I cannot give you any longer."

"Hai Hokage-sama." She bowed. "I will fulfill these duties to the best of my abilities and beyond."

"See that you do." He handed her the list, watching as a Jonin in the law department led her away, going through many of the regulations she would need to know inside and out as they walked. He then turned for his office.

\--------------------------

He sunk into his chair tiredly. The needed change of dynamics was exhausting, but it would soon be over.

He was almost a little surprised that Danzo hadn't tried anything in the meeting with the shinobi forces. Unfortunately for him, anytime Danzo was silent was a time Danzo was plotting. He wasn't in the clear yet.

Also unfortunately, he still hadn't turned up Mitch that could incriminate Danzo yet. But he was close, he could feel it.

A knock at his door had him cursing inwardly. Couldn't the world shut up and sit quiet while he sorted things out?

"Come in."

A Chunin from the intelligence department walked. "Message Hokage-sama"

He nodded his head in tired thanks. His tired hands unraveled the scroll and he began reading.

He cursed again.

The land of earth was now officially aiding Taiga no Kuni in its war against their allies.

It would seem that the land of fire would follow their lead soon.

\--------------------------------

Kakashi let himself into the room. "Hokage-sama? You wished to see me?"

"I did, Kakashi." He heard the tired sigh of the Hokage from the window. The Hokage was staring out into the late afternoon sun.

"Please sit."

Kakashi did so, eyes fixed worriedly on his leader's back.

It took a moment, but the aged Kage began to speak.

"I'm having doubts Kakashi."

"Hokage-sama?"

"Do you think Naruto is ready to face war?"

"No one is ever truly ready to face war, Hokage-sama."

"Let me rephrase the question then." The Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf turned to Kakashi. "Do you think Naruto is ready to be the Jinjuriki of Konoha?"

Kakashi swallowed. "No. She's still doesn't even know she contains the Kyuubi."

The Third Hokage nodded, seeming to agree with the words. "Very well then. I shall have her transferred."

"Transferred?" Kakashi asked with alarm. "What do you mean transferred."

The Hokage pointed at the scroll in front of him. "Can you tell me what that reads, Kakashi?"

Kakashi obliged the Hokage, eyes scanning across the page. His face paled as he read further.

"Well?"

"It's a declaration of war against Iwa, from the capitol."

The Hokage nodded. "We are at war Kakashi. You agreed that Naruto isn't ready to be a Jinjuriki. As such, the only way to protect her will be to remove her from the ninja corps entirely. Unfortunately, as war does, she will be dragged into this war sooner or later. I would prefer it to be later, after she's learned how to use the beast within her. It's the only way…" he trailed off, face cold as ice. Kakashi knew he was just as devastated as he himself was to think of Naruto perishing.

"You can't do that to her Hokage-sama." His tone was polite, even as he performed treason. "She'll be devastated."

"She'll be alive."

"Will she? You said it yourself, she'll be dragged into the war sooner or later. If you take her out of this team she won't be around people she trusts. And we both know how little people are willing to give her the chance to gain their trust right now. If she goes into the war surrounded by people she can't trust it'll only get her killed!" Kakashi's voice grew louder and louder as he talked, almost to the point of yelling. And then, quietly and ominously, he added "Or worse."

"Then what am I supposed to do? How can I send her out to the battlefield knowing what it's like. She's barely going to be eight in a few months!"

"Hokage-sama, she may be only eight, but she's already a strong Ninja. She's already come so far in the short time we've worked together. I think you're underestimating her."

"Maybe. Or maybe her journey as a ninja ends the moment I send her out to war."

"Then don't send her to war." Kakashi suggested. "Keep the team together, keep us off the field as we train her, send us on light missions if you have to."

"I can't do that. You and you're team are among the top ninja I have. You're needed In the field." Hiruzen sighed heavily, massaging his temples.

"All the more reason for us to stick close to her." He countered. "The enemy will be looking to take out our Jinjuriki as soon as they can in an effort to cripple us. If we stick close to her, we can guarantee she won't be harmed."

Hiruzen groaned. "You aren't making this very easy Kakashi."

"Good, that means it's working." Kakashi smiled. He turned serious immediately. "Please let us stay together Hokage-sama. I assure you, she's safest with us."

Hiruzen sighed heavily. "If I do this, you have to promise me you'll protect her with everything you've got."

"You don't need to worry, already covered." Kakashi smirked.

His smirk turned into surprised astonishment when he felt himself shoved to the wall. The Hokage was gripping his shirt, glaring with everything he had at Kakashi. The silver hair Jonin actually broke into a cold sweat. "I mean it, Kakashi. Everything you have. You're the one who begged me to keep her with you. If anything happens to her I'm holding you responsible." Hiruzen growled.

"Those who abandon the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash." Kakashi said seriously. "Trust me, Hokage-sama. I will die before I allow her to be harmed."

Hiruzen released Kakashi, who landed on his feet. The old Kage shuffled himself to his desk, sinking into his chair, spiritually heavy.

"Ok." He began. He started over. "Ok, she will remain with team Kakashi. On that note, I have a mission for your team."

"Hokage-sama?"

"You're going to escort refugees form Kodaina no Tochi's projected battlegrounds and escort them to the land of fire. There are some important people in this group, so you are to expect trouble on your relevant information is in the scroll." The third Hokage stated in a businesslike tone.

"Hai Hokage-sama."

"You're dismissed."

Kakashi turned to leave.

"Remember Kakashi. Protect her with your life."

Kakashi nodded, leaving the room via the window.  
\------------

\-----------------------

Capitol News  
________________

Declaration of war

Former nations of the Chain of Neutrality at war with each other over assassination of Daimyo

Lands of Fire and Earth bitter enemies, join allies in war.

Next big war?

Stay tuned for affected regions.

\----------------------

Naruto followed her team out of the gates. Looking back into the village, she could see people hurrying to carry out their duties. She could also see a team of Jonin pushing the gates closed.

The team walked in grim silence.

Out of all this, Naruto decided, the gate closing scared her the most.


	9. Episode 9: What Historians Will Eventually Call ‘The Road of a Thousand Tears’

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto's team must escort refugees to the Land of Fire. they meet interesting people, and fight also interesting people. part 1 of 2 mini arc

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello All
> 
> I apologize for the long wait...again...
> 
> Last week was really busy, and when I finally got set down to start writing I ended up getting writer's block.
> 
> Its not that I didn't know where I want the story to go or even which scene played out where, I just couldn't freaking write the scenes in a way that felt satisfactory.
> 
> I have finally prevailed however, and now present to you Chapter 9! Part one of a two point mini arc.
> 
> Please enjoy! (and don't be afraid to favorite the story and leave a comment if you like the story or have some constructive criticism.)

Scheming a scheme is sometimes a tricky thing. As a schemer, your first instinct may be to get straight into the thick of things. You may immediately wish to focus directly on the main goal, the endgame if you will, to seize it within your grasp and proclaim to the heavens your victory. One must never forget, however, the side goals. These are the goals that give the main goal depth. They provide substance to the main goal. They make the main goal worth achieving. Without the side goals, the schemer may overlook information that could jeopardize the main goal, or could add a greater reward to the end goal victory.

So, we've established that the side goals are important. Just as important, however, is the schemer themselves.

If one isn't sharp enough, how can one recognize the signs of a failed scheme, and when to withdraw. How can they see past the failure of the initial setback to see the victory behind it? How can they turn their losses into victories?

Above all, the most important thing to remember as a schemer…. Is that the best ones, rather, the scariest ones, are human too.

At this point, I must admit. I, yes even I, Danzo Shimura, have made a miscalculation.

And I must see to it that it doesn't turn into my worst failure yet..

Danzo's inner monologue wound to an end, and he stared once again at the scale model war map sitting in front of him. The map was the only thing, besides him, in the room.

Danzo turned to face the grey concrete wall of his hidden base, face marred with a frown as he thought.

He had not anticipated the neutrality chain falling into chaos as quickly as they had. Granted, such an event opened up several opportunities that may not have been possible in a small scale war between just two Ninja villages, but it wasn't his intention when going into this.

He had been somewhat cautious to spring on these opportunities, at first. It took great consideration before he set one such opportunity into motion, just earlier that day in fact.

He had to remind himself one thing above everything else. That everything he was doing was to better Konoha.

In that case, he'd best be cautious moving forward. He could not allow Konoha to be overwhelmed by the ever growing list of enemies. Maybe he could see about working Iwa's allies against them.

For now, he would busy himself as he waited for the report of his away team. They were… taking care of an important mission at the moment.

Anbu Captain Inu briefed his team on their current mission as they tree-hopped through the forest surrounding Konoha. They had been sent earlier that very day to evacuate some refugees from Kodaina no Tochi into the Land of Fire.

The currently masked shinobi of Team Kakashi hopped silently through the trees, the only noise emitting from them being the voice of Anbu Captain Inu.

"The majority of the evacuation has been carried out by the combined forces of Kodaina no Tochi. Once we reach the border, our first objective will be to meet with the Samurai stationed at the refuge center. They will assist us in gathering the refugees and performing final role call. Once that is done, our duty is to escort the refugees to the sanctioned refugee center in fire country, where they will be given paperwork to become temporary citizens to fire country. Any questions?"

Weasel sped up so he could match Inu's pace. "Taicho, what is different about these refugees that warrants us escorting them? Shouldn't we be more focused on fortifying the front lines for the coming war?"

"The answer is simple, Weasel. The mission request claims that the refugee group contains people of interest to the Daimyo of Kodaina no Tochi. Weather it's relatives or people in favor of his court, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that the Daimyo put his trust in Konoha to take care of the matter while he focuses on the war effort. Hokage-Sama trusts us to perform this mission while he organizes the war front."

Weasel accepted his reasoning, calling back into position. When it was clear no more questions would be coming, Naruto…. (Ocelot, she reminded herself) posed her own query.

"Taicho-Sensei."

Inu slowed down until he was following alongside the youngest member of their team. When they were going at a similar pace, he nodded to show he was listening.

Behind her mask, Ocelot flushes in embarrassment. "I never learned where Kodaina no Tochi was." She trailed off.

Inu understood the rest of her unasked question. "It's a fair question Ocelot." His tone was light, if still somewhat professional. "It's probably good you asked it actually, some of us will probably need the reminder. It's been a while since we reviewed the country in our own history lessons."

At this, his voice level rose, allowing him to be heard clearly by the rest of the team, even if they could hear him just as clearly before. "Listen up for a review everyone. We don't want to head into a country we're unfamiliar with, for we?"

When he was sure they were all listening (read: they were all listening anyway, and despite his own professionalism while wearing the mask, Kakashi was still a massive troll and therefore was pausing to push their patience) Inu continued. "Kodaina no Tochi is a land of broad aspects. Before the treaty between the Uchiha and Senju formed Konoha, Kodaina no Tochi was actually a bunch of tiny state nations that constantly fought with each other. When these tiny Nations heard of of the emerging ninja villages, they decided that as much as they disliked each other, they would no longer be able to play the ninja clans against each other to further their own wars. As such, they formed into one nation, to pool their resources together and protect themselves. They were one of the first countries to sign themselves as part of the Neutrality Chain when it was first founded."

"Currently," he continued, "they are best known for their creation of the steam powered engine and their… unique architecture. Also to be noted is their various schools of learning and innovation."

Ocelot turned this information over in her brain. This nation sounded fascinating. She's never heard of steam powered anything before. She, of course, knew what steam was. She'd been to bathhouses before, and don't forget the many times she'd served and been served tea. She couldn't fathom how they used that to power anything.

The team continued hopping through the trees, eventually setting up camp for the night. They would continue in the morning.

Overall, the trip from Konoha to the border of the Land of Fire and Kodaina no Tochi was a day and a half. A day was added on top of that, which covered their journey from one side of Kodaina to the other. The trip took a total of two and a half days, a stark improvement from last year, where their speed was limited to the freshly inducted blonde teammate.

While traveling, the terrain transformed from the lush forests of the Land of Fire, to the bayou varied lands of Kodaina no Tochi. As they traveled, the group couldn't help but notice the entire country preparing for war. Families were separating, the able bodied men and women that signed up for war leaving behind families who in turn would take shelter away from the war in the rural countryside. Entire towns were being transformed into forts tough enough to withstand sieges.

This was all backdrop to the team, who traveled through the various beautiful landscapes of plains, hills, mountains and fields. If they were lucky, most of it would be relatively untouched by war.

If they were lucky.

The team finally reached the front line headquarters, where the mission scroll stated they were needed.

The fort cut an intimidating figure into the landscape. It had been built on a large hill, meaning it towered over the city resting underneath it. The fort itself was surrounded by a double set of walls. The architecture followed the theme Ocelot had been seeing throughout the rest of Kodaina no Tochi. While she could understand the fortress's walls being made of stone, the Castle inside the walls and all the smaller buildings within were mainly made up of stone, contrary to the wood she was so used to seeing.

If she were to give her opinion, the fort looked colder and less inviting than even the Hokage tower, which she could only guess was the point.

She followed her team up the path and into the fortress itself. Inside, there were hundreds of Samurai, foot soldiers, and officers of various ranks busying themselves with the many tasks they had been ordered to do. Among the throng of soldiers, civilians hurried to pre-designated area's for processing and evacuation.

The team weaves silently through the crowd, taking great care not to interrupt the work more than they already did by showing up. Ocelot had some trouble keeping track of her team through the crowd, almost losing them entirely if not for Inu Taicho's silver hair.

She came to a stop right behind him, copying her team's salute to the officer they stopped in front of.

"We're looking for Major Linus Krüger. We have orders to secure and transport the civilian refugees under his protection." Kakashi said cordially.

The man looked at his clipboard, flipping through various papers until he found what he was looking for. Upon finding it, he nodded once. "Right this way."

They followed the man further through the fortress, into the castle itself. Inside were dozens, if not hundreds of civilians huddling together.

The moment she saw them, Naruto was captivated. So far, all she had seen was peaceful towns gearing up for war. The moment she laid her eyes on them, however, the blonde girl could tell that a number of them had come from an active war zone.

It was as much in their eyes as much as in their appearance. Their forms were covered in

Ash, dirt and debris. Their hair was messy, tangled within were signs of dust as well. Their eyes were the most telling. They stared as if they weren't really seeing anything. Anything in front of them, at least. It was almost as if their very souls had been left behind while fleeing.

Naruto wasn't sure what the emotion she felt was, but she didn't like it. It didn't feel nice at all.

She brushed her thoughts away to pay attention to Ka… Inu-Taicho, who was in the process of saluting someone new.

"Welcome to Fort Intense. I am Major Krüger, I've been told you're here to collect the refugees."

"We'll be escorting them out of here once we've confirmed that they all made it here safely."

"Good." The man face seemed to relax with relief. "I can't begin to make you understand how stressful it's been. We only have so much space, and it doesn't help that refugees are constantly pouring in. At this rate we'll have to close it down as a refugee center, else we'll be so overrun we won't be able to function as a proper military installation."

"That many?" Kakashi asked politely.

"More." The major answered. "Unfortunately we don't have the space the spare. As it is, I'm appreciative that you can take as many as you are with you." As he said this, he led them to the back of the castle.

As he walked, he continued to talk. "Now, a few things you should probably know if you don't already. This group of refugees is mostly made of minor nobles, only very distantly related to the current reigning Diamyo of Kodaina no Tochi. The nobles aren't rich enough or close enough to the Daamyo's line to warrant any threats such as kidnapping, ransom or murder. As such, they've been allowed to live in the countryside until now. The Daimyo wanted for his relatives, no matter how distant, to be safely away from the war front as soon as possible. This is where you come in. The Daimyo wishes for his relatives to be escorted into fire country, as far away from the war as possible. As such, he's hired Konoha to do it."

Inu Taicho nodded in confirmation. They came across a large group of refugees, whom the Major led them to. Inu Taicho looked down at the list of names he had been given, back up to the Major, and then to the refugees. "Are we supposed to escort all of them?"

"Yes. You're Hokage signed the confirmation to allow more refugees into the Land of Fire, has he not?"

Inu seemed to calculate something in his head. "It's the first I've heard of this." He sighed. "Well, I guess we'll just have to take them with us. Do you have an extended list of names for the extra refugees? Nobody wants to be left behind."

Inu Taicho and the Major began to read off the names, instructing the rest of team Inu to sort through them. As they did so, they discreetly scanned them for any weapons or contraband, as that was what any smart Shinobi would do.

Inu finished the list, frowning at the few names that had been called with no answer. "We're missing people Major."

The Major, having finished reading his own list of names, approached Inu Taicho. "A few names from my list are missing as well. How do you want to go about this?

"I have a family missing from my list, you?"

The Major looked at his own list and sighed. "A couple families and a few individuals. Will you leave without them? They've already been given instructions to be here before midday."

"We can spread out and look for them. If they aren't here within the next hour and we cannot find them before the end of the day, we'll have to leave."

"I won't be able to spare many people to help you, but those I can send will accompany you."

"That will be appreciated Major."

Inu turned to his group, taking the major's list as he did so. "Alright team, we'll be splitting into groups of two. Each group will be given at least one name and a district in the nearby city to search. If you cannot find the people who's names are on the list within the next few hours, then you are to report back here and wait for the rest of the team. We'll be leaving tonight, whether or not the rest of the refugees make it here or not."

"Hai Taicho" the team chorused.

Inu nodded, before he unsealed a scroll from his person. He unraveled the paper, ripping three prices off of the scroll. On each slip of paper, he wrote the names of the missing refugees and the sectors they were in.

One slips of paper had more than the other two, while on paper only had a single name. It was clear that the names had been divided by the sector where they lived, meaning one group would have more work to do than the others. It went unsaid that each of the team not so secretly wished to be in the group with the least amount of work required.

Inu knee this and smirked. "First, we'll separate into groups. Monkey, you're with me. Otter and Weasel will be group two, and Bear and ocelot will be the last group. To ensure fairness, we'll draw the slips of paper from a bag. One member of each group will draw a paper."

Otter cleared her throat. "What a wonderful idea Taicho. It's such a great Idea, in fact, that I'll be the one to shuffle the papers. We wouldn't want to be unfair now, would we?"

Inu sulked was the papers were being taken from him. There went his easy, laid back task.

Otter shuffled the bag containing the papers around. She held the bag open, allowing Bear to pick a piece first. When he did so, she turned to the Anbu Captain, grinning behind her mask as Inu grumbled and chose his own piece. Once he made his choice, Otter grabbed the last piece. As one, the three flipped their papers over, revealing that Bear had the shortest list of names, followed by Otter and lastly Inu, whose slip of paper held the most.

He groaned in despair, causing the others to smirk. Monkey shook his head, voice coming out annoyed. "You just had to try and be lazy didn't you."

"Hey, I was gonna get us the easiest job."

"Next time, don't involve me in your schemes Taicho."

Inu grumbled halfheartedly, leading Monkey out of the castle and toward his delegated sector.

The rest of the team split up as well, flickering ahead of the Major's own search parties. While the shinobi would bring back the missing people, the Major's search party would make one last final sweep of the city to ensure it was fully evacuated. Once it was confirmed to be deserted, the fort's forces would begin to fortify the rest of the city.

Ocelot followed Bear to the City's outskirts. The man whose name was on the list lived at the very edge of the city, just barely within the city's outer limit. He lived in a rural neighborhood, each house having large yards and lots of space between each property line.

The man's house was confirmed to be the very last one, his property ending just on the City line. The road outside his house was made of dirt, and the land around his house rolled out into the surrounding wilderness.

The duo walked along the fence towards the gate. As they walked, Ocelot marveled at the property's greenery. It wasn't as naturally untamed as Konoha's forests, but it was still breathtaking in its own way.

Her focus swung from the garden to the door, where she could see a man and a young child at the door. The man was knocking rather urgently, while the young child could be seen distracting herself by gathering flowers from the bush next to the door. Next to them were three suitcases, as well as a bag filled to the brim with unknown objects.

Ocelot and bear walked up the long walkway to the house. As they walked, the red headed Man's voice grew louder and louder.

"Mr. Bashford, are you in there? We're supposed to go to the Fort today. We're going to be late." His voice carried an edge of worry to it. Despite this, he seemed to be holding his emotions in check.

Ocelot and Bear were close enough to gain the man's attention. He turned and regarded the shinobi warily.

Bear spoke up, mostly to put the man at ease. "Good afternoon. Is Elias Bashford- San in today?"

The man shrugged. "I don't really know. I've been trying to gain his attention for about half of an hour now. If he's tinkering then it'll take the world ending for Mr. Bashford to notice anything."

"Tinkering?" Ocelot wondered aloud. Before anyone could answer, some loud bangs and a muffled explosion sounded from the house. The shinobi tensed and discreetly readied themselves for a fight, but it was unnecessary.

The window next to them opened, and smoke came pouring out of the opening. Following the smoke, a head popped out, followed by a racking coughing spree.

The group outside stared in bewilderment at the spectacle, before the young child, a girl Ocelot noted, spoke up disapprovingly. "Mr. Bashford, are you Tinkering again?"

The man in the window, now confirmed to be Bashford, looked up in surprise. "Oh, Oscar, Olivia. You're here! Is it time to leave already" he looked up at the sky, ages widening in surprise. "Is it evening already? Oh dear. Let me get the door."

Bashford's head disappeared back inside, and the group waited as various bumps, crashes and exclamations signaled the man's approach to the door. Finally, the door opened, and Bashford's form stood awkwardly, holding several boxes. "Please ignore the mess, I've been rather busy these past few hours."

Ocelot and Bear followed the man and child into the house. As they entered, Ocelot looked around her new surroundings.

It was the stark opposite of the outside. While the garden had been meticulously cared for and organized, inside the house was cluttered and organized in a way that one could easily mistake as a mess. Various bits and gizmos littered the surface of everything, from the floors to the shelves and tables.

Bashford followed the group, hobbling after them with a noticeable limp. "Now, as much as I enjoy guests, I'm afraid I don't have anything available to offer you. I do hope I'm not being rude."

"Think nothing of it." Bear's amusement could be beat in his voice. "We will have to politely refuse beverages of any sort. We're on a mission, currently."

Bashford turned to study the two shinobi, eyes curiously roving over their forms. "May I ask what two shinobi are doing in my home? I don't believe I have done anything to warrant an investigation."

"You haven't" bear answered. "We're here because you didn't show up at the fort before role call. We're part of the team that will be escorting you into the Land of Fire."

"I see." Bashford sighed. He looked longingly at his surroundings. "I don't suppose you'd mind terribly if I repacked my current project would you? I couldn't sleep last night and unpacked it so I had something to do."

Bear waved in a way that meant to right ahead. "I don't mind. Just be aware that we are on a time limit, if you don't mind."

The man disappeared up the stairs, and Ocelot began eyeing the gizmo's curiously. For a girl that had little contact with technology other than what was present in the Anbu base she stayed in, and what time she spent living at Noda's, this was all fascinating.

She perused the many gadgets, and it wasn't long before Bashford joined them again. "I'm ready to go." He announced.

The group walked outside, and Bear looked curiously at the father daughter duo that was following them. "Are you family of Bashford-San?"

Oscar shook his head with a soft smile. "No. My name is Oscar Webster. I'm his part time gardener when I'm not writing."

Bear took his slip of paper out, looking over it in disapproval. "You're name wasn't on the list."

Oscar brow scrunched up in concern. Bashford swooped in then, eyes determined.

"They're my plus two. Surely it'd be fine to bring along some close neighbors into the safety of the Land of Fire?" His tone was challenging.

"I don't know." Bear sighed, thinking heavily. He turned and regarded his blonde companion carefully. "What do you think Ocelot?"

Ocelot's eyes widened in surprise. She didn't think such a decision would come down to her own say so. All at once, she began thinking really hard of the pros and cons. Her shinobi training, while short, was clear on the importance of the mission. However, something inside her held her back from flat out refusing.

She wasn't sure what the feeling was, but it was with this she made her decision.

The group waited silently, tensing when it seemed clear the small shinobi was about to speak. The blonde turned to Bashford quickly, fixing him with a stare that went unobserved behind her mask. "Do you trust the Webster's?"

The man seemed surprised at the young voice, but pushed away the feeling to answer her question. "I can vouch for them. I've known Oscar for years, and I've known Olivia since she was born. I could trust them with my very soul."

Ocelot nodded. She turned to speak to her partner. "Taicho said we had to bring the names on the list if we could. He never said we couldn't bring extra. Besides, the Samurai at the fort said that the city needed to be cleared out, they'd be forced out of their home either way. This way they at least have someone they know with them."

Ocelot waited tersely as Bear absorbed her argument. She herself was mentally dissecting her words, looking for any fault and worrying over her team's possible reactions.

She was surprised at Bear's.

"OK." He said. "I'll trust you with this." He turned and regarded the Webster's. "We'll take you along with us. Please be aware, however, that our leaders will hold us accountable for bringing you with us, so while in our care listen to us when we have something to say. That said, it is entirely up to you to stay with us, and we will not be held accountable if you suddenly decide to wander off."

Oscar nodded, breathing a sigh of not quite relief.

Bashford clapped his hands, a cheery visage on his face. "Excellent. Now, I do have a lot of things we'll be taking with us. Do you suppose we can take a wagon?"

Bear sighed, weighing the pros and cons in his head.

Inu and Monkey led the gaggle of minor nobles and their families up the path and into fort Intense. The entire trip had been exhausting, and that was just getting the few names on a list! He still had to gather the rest of the refugees and actually travel with them back to the Land of Fire.

He sighed heavily, looking further into the fort where the rest of his team were supposed to gather.

He saw Weasel and Otter standing next to some new faces, as well as the already gathered refugees. He frowned when he couldn't see their youngest member and their bulkiest member.

Inu walked up to Otter, an inquisitive look behind his porcelain mask. "Have Ocelot and Bear not returned?"

Otter shook her head. "We were the first ones back. Haven't seen anyone come into the fort before you did."

That was strange. "They still have some time left. If they aren't here in thirty minutes we'll need to send search parties." As Inu spoke, he couldn't help but mentally calculate the odds. Naruto and Kenta has been given the list with the smallest amount of people. They should have been back already.

Twenty five minutes passed, and as the team started to get truly worried they spotted something coming up to the gate of the fort.

It was wagons, two of them. They were both pulled by a horse each, and one of them was filled to the brim with belongings and wires gizmo's. The other was completely empty, save for the people driving and riding in it.

Bear and an unknown man was driving the empty wagon, and a girl younger than Ocelot practically danced in the wide empty space behind him. Meanwhile, Ocelot sat in the first wagon, next to a peculiar man.

Kakashi studies the newcomers in surprise. They had only been sent to collect one person. Who were the extra two?

The first man was peculiar in every way. His hair was held a green tint to otherwise black hair. Over his eyes were the tiniest of glasses Kakashi had ever seen. His sense of style was all over the place, a suit underneath a trench coat with a bow tie over the collar of the trench coat. He wore a bucket hat with faded, sun bleached colors. Kakashi saw the hint of wood behind the cuff of his pant leg from here.

The other man was extremely plain comparatively. His red hair and scruffy complexion matched could be found anywhere. And the tired look he gave was only human.

The young girl dancing around in the back of the wagon was also average for a six year old, by the looks of it. Her blonde hair was mostly free, except for two buns on the side of her head. She wore an oversized sweater, and in her hands she carefully swung around a type of umbrella. Probably a parasol, if Kakashi remembered correctly.

Inu slipped into his professional facade all too easily as he made his way over to the two missing members of his team. "Bear, Ocelot, what took you two so long?" He looked at the three people accompanying them. "And why did you come back with three people when I sent you for one?"

Inu watched as Ocelot went to defend herself and her partner, only to be cut off by Bear, who patted her shoulder reassuringly.

"I apologize for the tardiness Taicho, that was entirely my fault. Bashford-san made an excellent point about the possible use of a wagon on our mission and I decided it would be best to procure another. As for Webster-san and his daughter, Bashford-San vouched for their Integrity, and I figured that because they are extremely close neighbors it would be alright to bring them in place of his nonexistent family."

Inu nodded, accepting the answer. He turned to the wagons critically. "The wagons will slow us down."

"No more than traveling with civilians might." Bear argued. "It might actually speed is up by giving somewhere for the tired, sick and elderly somewhere to rest while the rest of us continue walking. And if we use sealing tags, we could seal away everyone's belongings and provide even more space for the refugees to rest and recover."

Inu nodded accepting the argument. He turned to Weasel, Otter and Monkey. "Tell the refugees to get ready. As soon as we get everything sealed away we'll be leaving. We cannot risk staying the night.

Under seventy miles away, another team stood in a different war camp.

Only, these weren't Konoha shinobi. Nor were they in Kodaina no Tochi.

The team of Anbu, were in fact Iwa shinobi born and raised. And they were currently in a forward base inside Hashi no Kuni.

They were currently on a mission. A mission that could strike a debilitating first blow against the Daimyo of Kodaina no Tochi and thus a harsh blow to their true enemy, Konoha.

"You all have your orders. Remember, we must leave a few of them alive for blackmail purposes. If all of them die then we'll have nothing to bring to the negotiation table."

"I still don't see how minor nobles with barely any connections will benefit our cause."

"The Daimyo of Kodaina no Tochi cares enough about them that he's willing to go through the trouble of hiring Konoha scum to escort them further away from the battlefield. That's all the higher ups need to convince them their worth something."

One of the other Iwa shinobi spoke up. "Look on the bright side, we get the chance to kill some Tree-Huggers. Even better, one of our spies tipped us off that some pretty big players are on the team of Anbu sent to escort the nobles."

"Any word who?"

"No word on who. But there aren't that many big players left in Konoha as it is. Any of remaining big shots go down and all of that scummy village will feel it."

"Enough gossiping ladies." A female shinobi grinned. "If we don't get going now we'll never catch up in time."

The Iwa shinobi set off on their mission.

Normally, a civilian traveling the distance between the war camp and fort Intense would take a full day of non stop, unassisted travel.

For shinobi, it would take only two hours of nonstop travel.

The good news: The Konoha team had already left the fort at the time the conversation took place.

The bad: they were traveling with civilians. No matter what their head start, the Iwa shinobi would still catch up eventually.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And End scene!
> 
> really hoped you enjoyed that. Took me an entire week of constantly wracking my brain and 24 hours of forcing myself to sit here and write to get this chapter out.
> 
> Obviously, as those of you who may have watched Violet Evergarden would know, I threw in some people and places from the show into the world. It is entirely deliberate, and they will be making a comeback later (some of which will be seen a lot later, however.)
> 
> I made a new Oc, the tinkerer. I wasn't sure if I was going to have an already existing character fill the man's place, but I couldn't find a tinkering scientist in Violet Evergarden that would fill in the spot canonically. Hence the OC.
> 
> He'll be a pretty important character, both this next chapter and further down the line.
> 
> Translations are a bit late, but I'll try to include them for the pieces of lore I added into this fiction to add some depth to the story.
> 
> Kodaina no Tochi: Land of Broad Aspects. the literal translation of Europe. yes, Europe will be represented in this fiction, just as it was somewhat in the world of Evergarden (maybe not actual locations, but definitely Ideas and technology)
> 
> Hashi no Kuni: Land of Bridges
> 
> Taiga No Kuni: Land of the great River
> 
> now, these translations were made using google translate, so I apologize if I got anything wrong. even if I do get it wrong and am corrected, the name's not changing. if I can, I'll probably try and add an in story explanation or something.
> 
> I'm still working on the next chapter. I would have liked to say it could be out tomorrow, but I've been writing this chapter literally all of today and yesterday (Although yesterday was kind of sparrodic at best, so go ahead and feel free not to count it.)
> 
> lets see, what else should I conclude with?
> 
> a few new Oc's may or may not make an appearance next chapter, depending on how I feel about using Naruto characters as I write the chapter. you'll also get to see why the Tinker is so important, but I don't want to spoil anything. If you guess it i will acknowledge you in an author's note before you read next chapter. probably wont be too hard, you're all sharp enough.
> 
> yes that's a challenge.
> 
> no not an insult
> 
> never an insult.
> 
> (i'm just really bored and exhausted, so now I'm literally writing whatever is on my mind at the moment.0
> 
> Well, that's all for today. If I think of anything else to address to you, dear readers, you'll either see it in the comment section or in an author's note next chapter. Until then,
> 
> Ja-Ne  
(before I go, wasn't the Danzo's inner monologue really cool? it just came to me in the middle of writing a really cheesy letter for the heck of it, and I wrote the rest of the chapter after that. that little section really helped me get this chapter rolling. odd, where inspiration comes from.)


	10. Chapter 10: What Historians Will Eventually Call 'The Road of a Thousand Tears' Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the escort mission runs into trouble when team Inu encounters a team from Iwa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
> 
> I did it again!
> 
> I cannot explain to you how sorry I am for missing the deadline. I'm trying to upload every week and here I am, missing every other week.
> 
> I think once a week for this story just isn't possible.
> 
> its not just the writing, but I find myself spending a lot of time researching in an effort to honor the source material the right way.
> 
> anyway, I give you chapter Ten. which for your information is 8,000 or so words long, as compared to my other chapters, which average to about 6,000.

Team Inu and their escortees were not alone...

...Inu-Taicho decided that it was best for them to blend in, and merged their group into a slightly larger group of refugees heading the same way. He had explained to them that a small group of refugees being escorted by a highly trained team of Anbu would bring the wrong sort of attention to them, that it would look less suspicious for a team of Anbu to escort a large herd of refugees through their country.

Otter had objected under the concern that them being there would endanger the lives of the refugees they were using to blend in. Inu-Taicho countered with the argument that the only thing they should have to be worried about at this point was bandits, and their prescience was actually beneficial to the refugees.

And so hours later Naruto sat, Anbu mask hiding her features, listening to the dialogue between Bashford-San and the surrounding refugees from her spot atop the wagon's passenger seat.

The man sat next to her, facing behind them, where the refugees sat in the flat of the wagon. He was animatedly gesturing with his hands as he conversed with several of the children, flaunting his various gadgets and gifting them with harmless gizmos.

She sat silently, watching him as he entertained the young minds before him. It did not take as long as she thought it might before they lost interest in the Tinker, turning to entertain themselves another way.

Bashford-San noticed her staring just about then. "Would you like a gizmo too?" He smiled.

She shook her head. "Why do they call you that?"

"Call me what?" His face screwed up in confusion.

"Mr. Bashford."

"...it's my name?" He smiled politely, s even as his brows were furrowed in confusion.

The tiny Anbu shook her head negatively. "Not that. What's 'Mr.' mean?"

"Oh, that.." he was all smiles again. "That's just an honorific. It's how you politely refer to someone of the male gender."

Naruto tilted her head in thought. "Why don't you use the honorifics we use?"

The man shrugged. "It's been the way we've done things for hundreds of years. Traditions basically."

Behind her mask, Naruto's face scrunched up in distaste. "I don't like it."

At this, the Tinker chuckled. "So says everyone growing up in the constraints of tradition." His grin was wide. "We've been doing it this way for so long most people don't even realize that we didn't always have those traditions."

"It's weird."

"Maybe to you, but to me it's normal. In fact, to me it's you who sounds weird."

Naruto paused to think on that, not entirely convinced.

Probably sensing this, Bashford-San spoke again. "Just because everyone else has a certain way of doing things doesn't necessarily make it the right way. It's like…. not everyone likes to tinker with machines, but that doesn't mean it's wrong to tinker."

As he said this, he revealed a small contraption the size of his palm. The tiny thing was skinny, with two protrusions on each side and four wooden blades in front. He wound the blades up, before tossing it.

To Naruto's utter amazement, the machine flew out and up, sailing just over the treetops before falling back down and landing semi-gracefully a few yards in front of them.

"Woah!"

Bashford's grin grew even wider. "That's something I worked on years ago. It makes an excellent children's toy, you can keep it if you want."

At his words Naruto dismounted and reverently scooped the small wonder up, carefully putting it into her kunai pouch for safekeeping. She returned to her seat, carefully shuffling herself so as not to put any weight on her pouch.

The man shook his head, eyes staring at her with a peculiar look. He seemed to shake it off soon after. "As marvelous as the subject of flight is, that is nothing compared to some of my more recent projects." His voice had a peculiar tilt to it, one Naruto remembered several children in the playground using when floating about something they had she didn't. In this case, she didn't mind the boasting, since it was coming from someone who was proud of their own achievements.

"What other things have you made?" Naruto asked curiously. She couldn't keep the excitement from leaking out into her voice.

Bashford-san noticed immediately, and immediately became twice as excited. "Well, I guess I can show you my latest project… only if you promise not to tell anyone!"

Naruto immediately shook her head.

"I don't know…" he drew out. "It is supposed to be a secret. I can't just go telling random Anbu my secrets."

"Pinkie promise! Pinkie promised I won't tell anyone!"

The man paused, silently and slowly reaching his pinkie out to take her own. She shook his pinkie with her own, inwardly hyper. This was another person willing to share the most powerful promise of all, she didn't have many people willing to do so."

"Ok.." The Tinker seemed to compose himself, smile overtaking his face again. "Ok, just have to unseal the project from the scroll. Would you mind helping me? I'm afraid that no matter how much I've studied seals I've never had the chakra capacity to use them."

She reached out and took a hold on the scroll, pulsing her chakra through it. The resulting proof of smoke briefly caught the attention of the children, before they were ushered away by their exhausted parents.

The smoke cleared quickly, revealing a locked box the size of Bashford's arm. He reached behind his shirt, drawing from his neck a key on a chain.

Using this key, he unlocked the box, opening it and revealing its contents for Naruto to see.

Naruto's entire body went white as a sheet, despite her mask and Anbu attire blocking it from view. Despite her shock, her voice was relatively calm. "Is that an arm?"

Inside the box was an arm. It was bronze, and made up of many interlocking prices. There were parts that were uncovered, allowing her to see years and strings of all kinds shoved neatly sighing. Near the base of the arm was a bulky cylinder with a tag stuck onto it, reading 'chakra battery' in sloppy handwriting.

"A mechanical arm, yes. I've been working on this for a year almost, still nowhere near as complete as I want it to be. The battery is too bulky, and the metal is much too heavy for anyone but a shinobi to use regularly, and even then they would be spending a ridiculous amount of chakra to do so. On top of that, the seals that I made to control the movements of the arm are juvenile, even if they were the best I could draw up. Without an expert seal-master, I'm afraid controlling the arm's movements will be like trying to ride an angry bull."

Naruto allowed his words to wash over her, not understanding the intricacies in everything he said. Instead, she was mesmerized by the technology before her.

She tuned back into his tangent a minute later, somewhat lost.

"At first I was just fiddling because I was bored, but then I had an accident with the interior cooler project and my interest in the project grew hotter. The loss made it hard for me to make my way to the lab, but I was determined to get the intricacies right before I installed the prosthetic onto myself…"

"Your loss?" Naruto interrupted.

"Oh, right, how silly of me." He pulled up his pant leg, revealing a wooden peg in the place of a foot.

Naruto was already desensitized by the sight, having grown up in a ninja village with many veterans with missing limbs. Still, she was shocked.

"Why are you making an arm if you're missing a leg?!" Naruto's voice rose high in pitch with her confusion.

Bashford-san gave her a look that practically screamed 'well obviously' as he answered. "Making a leg first would be pointless. Humanity has been using wooden pegs for thousands of years as effective leg prosthetics. But since the dawn of time, no man has been able to make a perfect replacement for the human arm. I figured, if I were to use my technological know-how for such a cause, why start with something humanity has already had a solution for? I want people to look at my work and feel as though I offered a solution to an unsolved problem, not something that has already been solved!"

"Besides…" he gave her a conspiratorial look, "what better way to work out all of the tiny details than by starting with the hardest part of the task? If I perfect the arm first, it'll be a simple matter to take that technology and apply it to any other prosthetic ever!" He gave a proud look at that, staring off into the distance with a dopey grin.

He snapped the chest closed then, and Naruto nearly jumped. "Bashford-San?"

He gestured behind her, where she discovered Itachi standing on top of the wall of the wagon. It explained why all the children had been so quiet, as they were staring at him with a mixture of awe and fear.

"Inu-Taicho has taken over for my shift, Ocelot-San. It's best you hurry to switch shifts with Monkey-San before you're late and get into trouble."

She withheld the yelp that wanted to come out, quickly jumping to her feet and jumping down off the wagon.

Before she could leave, Bashford-San called out.

"Ms. Ocelot."

She turned around, giving him a nod to show she was listening.

"How old are you?"

She studied his face. It held only honest curiosity, and a slight trace of… apprehension?

"I turned eight years old last October."  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bashford silently watched the child walk away and to where he assumed the other Anbu were. He was silent because he felt sick.

A nine year old being a shinobi was bad enough, but to be in the Anbu? Where he was told only the best and most skilled shinobi were selected to perform the hardest and bloodiest missions for the village?

He wanted to have stern words with whoever was in charge.

It was bad enough that 12 was the minimum age for a child to be a shinobi… in peacetime of all things. But to have an eight year old running around in such a dangerous job as Anbu? It made his blood boil.

"...sure is growing…" the ninja next to him mumbled quietly.

"What did you say?"

The short Anbu (he had his suspicion that this was another young shinobi) clarified. "She's growing really fast is all."

He mentally debated how he should feel about that. "How so?" He settled for asking.

"When we were first assigned to the same team, she was a tiny, scrawny girl, maybe half as tall and heavy as she should have been. Now, she's almost as tall as she should be, and she can take care of herself much better than she used to be able to."

"She's too young to have to be in Anbu."

"Perhaps… but she was put into Anbu due to...special circumstances"

Bashford rose an eyebrow at the short (maybe young) Anbu. "And you? How old are you?"

"I'm fourteen… and also special circumstances"  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The group of refugees came to a stop just before nightfall, setting up camp off the road and hidden in the wilderness. Despite Kakashi's warnings,

The refugees felt safe enough to light fires in their camp. Using these, they made themselves warm evening meals that they shared with their fellow refugees.

Despite their wariness towards their masked protectors, the refugees offered to share their food with the shinobi.

Despite their misgivings, Kakashi allowed his team the benefit of a cooked meal. Even so, he ordered them to be double vigilant for any hostile presence. If they were being followed by anything, the fires would have given them away.

That had been hours ago. Now, the moon had risen to it's apex in the sky, and Naruto, (Ocelot when masked) had been awoken to serve her night shift with Otter.

The two women had hidden themselves at opposite ends of the camp, Ocelot had also spawned and sent off a few shadow clones to watch the area's neither could see. They all had an alarm seal, which Ocelot herself had received from Weasel and Bear after their shift had ended.

They were instructed to activate it if any dangerous prescience they could not deal with themselves drifted into the camp.

Ocelot had been sitting here for hours, nearly falling asleep for the entirety of the latter half. The only thing keeping her up at this point was the knowledge that she had only a half hour left to her shift before she was allowed to go back to the wondrous realm of sleep.

Her head snapped up, her eyes focusing out into the darkness. Something felt… wrong. She couldn't tell what, couldn't see what, but something was out there.

She pressed her hand onto her Anbu tattoo, pulsing her chakra through it and into Otter's. At the very least, her Senpai knew something was coming.

Her eyes strained themselves, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary. Her ears similarly were straining themselves, trying to hear anything different.

Nothing. As in, literally nothing. No wildlife, no wind through the trees, and that was when she knew they were in trouble.

She pumped her chakra through the alarm seal, the amount of chakra releasing a sharp, raising tone that could wake the dead.

It was a good thing she did, because no sooner did she set off the alarm and her teammates bolted out of their tents, sharpened spikes of earth punctured out from the ground and shredded the tents of all her team members.

She didn't look to make sure they were unharmed. Rather, her eyes spotted an unfamiliar solitary figure darting into their clearing. The figure was dark, but not dark enough to hide the kunai and the Iwa head protector.

She moved. Fast.

She approached the figure from above, landing on his back and hanging onto him by wrapping her legs around his torso. Without hesitation, she plunged her dagger into his skull.

And was surprised when the figure turned to stone. An earth clone!

She fell backwards as the clone disintegrated, landing awkwardly on her feet.

A shadow appeared behind her. She only had enough time to gasp and widen her eyes before she was forced to move, barely dodging the kunai that would have stabbed her back. She twisted herself to face her attacker, but even facing him she was stumbling backwards. A combination of surprise and limited space kept her on the back-foot.

She was saved when Otter came swooping in, kicking the enemy shinobi in the face.

"Thanks."

"Anything for you Kitten!" Was her happy reply. Her voice turned serious the next second. "Help Weasel-kun lead the civilians to safety. Inu-Taicho and the rest will help me hold off the attackers."

Ocelot nodded, rushing off to do as she was ordered.

She rushed to the tents, leading the panicking civilians to where she saw Weasel ordering his own group of panicking civilians.

"Is that everyone?" Weasel's gaze could be felt even through his mask.

Ocelot mentally calculated, eyes searching the crowd. "It's everyone."

"Follow me." This time, he was addressing the civilians, who began following the two shinobi nervously.

They made it out of the clearing and halfway to the road before Weasel cursed. Ocelot discovered why when she was forced to block a barrage of kunai flying at her.

One of the kunai let out a hissing sound, and Weasel cursed. It took nearly everything they had to get the majority of the refugees out of harm's way.

As it was, two refugees were caught up in the explosion, dying instantly as the explosion tore their bodies apart.

An Iwa-nin revealed himself, his smaller figure revealing him to be a new Iwa ninja. The man also wore a mask, one she could identify as belonging to an Iwa Anbu team.

Ocelot growled angrily, turning toward the perpetrator and charging. As she did so, smoke covered her hands as she unsealed a blade from her Anbu seal.

She attacked the Iwa Anbu with it. The smoke obscuring the sight of the blade from her opponent, she capitalized on it.

The Iwa Anbu moved to block the blade, which turned out much shorter than he realized. She moved past his guard and sliced the tendons in his left arm, leaving it damaged and near useless.

The Iwa shinobi growled at this, moving back and performing a series of one hand seals.

"Doton: Doryū Taiga!"

The ground under Ocelot gave way, forcing her to jump away from her opponent. Where she once stood was a raging river of mud. She could have been seriously injured if she had been swept away with it.

"Doton: Doryūdan-no-Jutsu!"

Never mind, she could still get hurt from it, apparently.

The mud from the river rose up, forming itself into a terrifying visage of a dragon. It opened its mouth, ready to fire.

Both Ocelot and the Iwa-nin were surprised when a blast of heat crashed into the mud dragon, leaving it a glass statue.

"Katon: Goukakyuu-no-jutsu!" Weaseling shouted from somewhere behind her, forcing the Iwa Anbu to dodge or be cooked alive.

Ocelot dashed forward, hands blurring with her own set of seals. She landed in front of the Iwa Anbu, who was surprised at her sudden appearance.

It was too late for him to do anything, as she had completed her last hand seal. "Fūton: Daitoppa"

The explosive wind jutsu launched the Anbu away and into a tree, his back bending painfully backward. Without a med-nin, he would be out of the fight for months.

Ocelot didn't get to celebrate long, however, because another Iwa ninja appeared in front of her. She was forced to jump backwards, or risk losing her head to the enemy.

The new opponent hissed angrily, feminine voice seething with hatred. "You tree-fuckers should just quit while you have the chance. I'm not feeling very merciful after what you did to Kumanosuke"

Ocelot growled as well. "You're the one who attacked us!"

Weasel stepped forward, putting his arm in front of her to cut her off. He turned to the Iwa shinobi. "You are trespassing in the land of Kodaina no Tochi and have attacked the shinobi of Konoha…"

The Iwa shinobi cut him off by laughing crudely. "You Konoha Ninja are soft! We're at war, and here you are acting as if we were at peace and reading me the riot act!"

"I'm not reading anything to you." Weasel disagreed. "I'm telling you the error you have made, by attacking my comrades unprovoked."

He didn't say anything, instead unsheathing his Ninjato and charging at the woman.

The Iwa Anbu hastily blocked Weasel's strikes. He didn't have much power in his strikes due to his young age, but he had trained for years to be fast.

He was faster than the woman, who struggled to defend herself. She created an opening by kicking at his groin, and he was forced to retreat from the offensive.

Ocelot didn't get much of a chance to join in. The woman jumped back out of nowhere, collecting her teammate and disappearing back into the forest.

Ocelot and Weasel stood prepared, eying the foliage for a sneak attack. A pulse from their Anbu tattoos and rustling from behind them announced the arrival of their team, who were quick to form a defensive perimeter.

Inu-Taicho approached them. "How many casualties?"

"I saw two refugees get caught in an explosion." Ocelot answered, voice hard. She didn't want to think about it too much.

"Five total. Three went down when the earth spikes hit the camp."

Taicho nodded, voice hard. "The wagons are destroyed, as well as a lot of the possessions the refugees owned. We'll have to take what we can carry and continue the rest of the way on foot."

"That trip would take us only three hours of non stop running, but with civilians that would make it a three day journey at least. What happens if the Rockheads comes back?" Monkey asked. It was a question that was on all their minds.

"They will." Taicho half sighed half groaned. "Whatever their objective is, they obviously haven't completed it. And they won't stop until they do. Our only chance is to get to the border, we can get reinforcements there. They'll either be driven off or destroyed."

"Monkey, help me break the news to the refugees. The rest of you, get as much as you can sealed away in the next five minutes. Whatever is left stays behind. And all of you, keep your eyes peeled."

With that parting warning, he turned and walked towards the refugees, Tano following close behind.

The rest of them grabbed their scrolls and started packing.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ittan removed his Anbu mask, tiredly rubbing his eyes. That, had not gone well.

His team sat silently under his dome, healing their wounds as best as they could. They would be on the move again shortly, or so the team's healer Kiko said.

Said woman was berating her best friend Kumanosuke, who was laying flat on his stomach as she healed him. Something about getting his ass handed to him by a midget. He didn't know.

On the other side of the man made cavern, the rest of his team lay sleeping. The next few days would be rough, especially because they would be getting really close to enemy territory. They would not be coming home empty handed.

For now, Ittan resigned himself to stay awake, his team would need the rest. He would sleep only after they have.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Day one

The first few hours were spent with the refugees constantly looking over their shoulders. Inu tried to assure them the Iwa shinobi would still be kicking their wounds, but after the second hour we all knew he wasn't so sure about that statement.

He had to point out that stragglers would be left behind to die before they all picked up their pace. Despite the harsh words, none of the Konoha shinobi actually wished to leave them behind.

There might not be a choice.

The second attack was anticipated, but no less deadly. Ten refugees fell to the enemies attacks before they could be driven off. Bear took a heavy hit to his arm. He wouldn't slow them down, but their combat ability took a hit.

The next attack happened only half an hour later, and came as a complete surprise. Thirteen refugees were blown to bloody red paste within the first ten seconds of battle, when it was discovered the Iwa shinobi had rushed ahead and planted explosive traps along their path. Another three fell before the Konoha Anbu drove off the shinobi attack that had happened immediately after.

They Iwa team was not left without injury, however. Weasel and Monkey had teamed up against one of the Iwa shinobi, and without immediate aid would be blind in one eye forever. With wide, there was a slight chance he might retain his eyesight, but it would never be the same.

As a precaution, Inu-Taicho summoned his ninja hounds to sweep the surrounding forest. They would not stumble into another trap as long as the hounds were around.

They spent the night in shifts, watching over the refugees as they rested in their hiding places. They would be moving within a few hours.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Day 2

The second day was worse. Everyone was scared, tired, hungry and frustrated. Paranoia ran rampant through the group, which to be fair was warranted. Because they didn't even get an hour into their journey before the Iwa Anbu stepped up their attacks.

The fourth attack was harsh, with the losses amounting to a staggering twenty by the time the Iwa nin retreated. Otter was also injured, her leg had been snapped after a close call with an earth pit technique. They were down to four able bodied shinobi.

They treated as many of the wounded as they could before setting off again. If they stayed one place too long they were dead, but it would only be a matter of time before they exhausted themselves too much to continue on.

The fifth attack came five hours later, and five more refugees fell. Fifteen more were too injured to continue, and had to be left behind. They could only assume the worst.

When they stopped for the night, Ocelot could hear Taicho and Tano arguing quietly over their options. They both knew that their priority was to the fifty refugees that they had been sent to get, and that they could probably shed off the excess weight that the rest of the refugees were. They acknowledged that doing so would guarantee no change, and would probably only paint a target on the people they needed to protect. As they were, the many lives that had been taken so far ensured the survival of the primary objectives.

As coldhearted as it sounded, they were probably right. That did nothing to erase the sight of all of those dead people… those dead children, that they had failed.

She could hear them quietly planning and debasing long after her sentry shift was over and she turned in. Before she drifted to sleep, Naruto could hear Kakashi summon and speak to his nin dogs, before they made their way off into the forest.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The third day dawned cold and dreary. Morale was low, they had no time or resources to cook, and they had to begin moving immediately.

It would soon prove to become a nightmare.

Ocelot walked tensely, eyes searching through the trees. It was only a matter of time before they were attacked. It wasn't really a question of if. It was a question of when, where and how.

These Iwa Anbu were intelligent, and every time they attacked it was with something new and unexpected. At this point, she was sure everyone in the group was doubting the very nature around them.

Would that rock explode? Is that crack in the earth going to widen and swallow us? Are the trees going to suddenly fall on top of us? Are the birds going to explode and reveal the hated masked enemy?

Every refugee was dead silent, the only sounds being the steps they made and the air they breathed. The children left had huddled themselves into a group at the center, and Noda had to calmly and gently lead them away from such a formation. It would only make them easier to target that way.

Taicho was ahead of them, walking with one hand on his kunai pouch. She could see that behind his mask, his headband had been pulled up and away from his eye.

Otter was being supported by Taicho. Her genjutsu skills were rusty, but at the moment they were all she could use without leaving herself vulnerable. She would hide herself the moment anything happened and strike from the shadows.

Behind her, Bear and Monkey brought up the rear. Both of them took turns glancing behind them, making sure nobody was getting snuck up on. Bear's arm was in a makeshift cast, but he was determined to not be a burden. Despite his injury, he would, and had been, using his injured hand to fight effectively.

Bringing up the sides of the formation was herself and Weasel. Neither of them had been wounded with anything worse than scratches, but both were exhausted from chakra usage and physical exertion. While not as experienced as their Senpai's, each still brought promising skills to the team, skills that had been utilized time and again during this botched mission.

And there lies the crux of the problem. The mission.

Someone had added onto the Hokage's orders, making them bring more people than they had initially been told to escort.

On top of that, those Rockheads were looking for something specific. There was no other reason they'd risk going so far into enemy territory just to harass a group of refugees. If they had found their objective they'd have already been gone, and if they had wanted wanton murder they'd have stayed in the border.

The only answer the team Inu could think was that they had been informed that the refugee group contained something they wanted. The only questions were what and who told them.

Ocelot was broken out of her thoughts when a hand grasped hers.

She flinched, nearly readying herself for a fight. She stopped herself when she noticed that it was one of the kids. The blonde hair and parasol told Ocelot it was Olivia Webster.

Thankfully, most of the group team Inu had been sent to collect were still alive. A few people were gone, true, but the majority of the original refugees were alive. Among them, both Webster's and the Tinker.

She would have identified the girl by her face, but she had buried it into Ocelot's side.

"What's wrong?" Ocelot whispered, her voice startling some of the refugees around her.

The girl just shook her head and continued walking while holding her hand. Ocelot couldn't blame her, she was just as unnerved.

It's been a while since the last attack. Where were the Iwa shinobi. ocelot wouldn't let herself relax her guard just because they were on the last stretch.

Suddenly, one of the civilians near the front of the procession gave a drawn out, horrified moan. The group had been traveling off road for a while now, so it took a while for Ocelot to see why such a noise was made.

She didn't like the answer.

Lining the forest clearing they had stepped into were people that had been staked and left. To be specific, refugees that had traveled with them not the day before.

Their bodies, those that had been alive when they were left behind at least, had been tortured severely. Each body carried signs of beatings, lacerations, drugging's and burns. Naruto felt like puking. She heard a few of the civilians agree, their empty stomachs emptying themselves further into the grass.

No sooner did the procession make it into the clearing did the Iwa shinobi reveal themselves, stepping out of the shadows of the trees. They were surrounded.

One of the shinobi stepped forward, taking off his mask. As he did so, Ocelot took the time to study him.

He had tanned skin typical of Iwa. His eyes were dark, bags showing how tired he was. His lower face was covered in a neatly trimmed beard. He wore the typical Iwa uniform, a missing sleeve being the only deviation.

During the time she was studying him, the man had walked forward until he was directly between two of the staked corpses. He smirked, seemingly pleasant.

"Greetings. I come in peace."

The desecrated corpses said otherwise. Inu-Taicho stepped forward.

"What do you want?"

"I suppose what anyone normally wants, to go home and relax. Unfortunately, for me that involves one thing in particular." he pointed through the crowd, eying each refugee up slowly. "I need a bargaining chip to use against the Daimyo of Kodaina no Tochi. Naturally, the most important person here will be our target. Don't worry, whoever it is will be treated well."

What was the whole purpose of telling them their objective? Ocelot didn't know. She didn't get much time to think, a combination of her attention being stolen away by the corpses they were surrounded by and movement in the shadows kept her preoccupied.

"What makes you think we'd tell you anything?" Inu-Taicho's voice rang out, clear and commanding. It almost knocked her out of her trance, but her attention was drawn back in by the corpse of a child, the kid's eyes having been plucked out through the back of his head.

"Because if somebody doesn't you'll all end up like these people here." the man solemnly swore.

At his words, the darkness parted and revealed hundreds of corpses. Each and every one of them looked to have been brutally tortured to death, with ribs cracked open and blood flowing toward the forest floor. Bodies were nailed to trees, some having been stabled together and hung like a party streamer through the tree limbs. Still others were pierced height wise through by sharpened branches.

Their blood pooled down the trees and to the forest floor, making the ground around bloody as far as the eye could see. Everything was reflected through the bloody pool, showing a bloody image of the grisly scene. The moon was bright and red, hanging ominously over their heads.

'Genjutsu!' Ocelot brought her hands up and performed the 'release' hand seal, muttering "Kai" as she manipulated her chakra within herself.

All of the bodies and blood disappeared, revealing a normal forest. The bodies that had been closest to them were now revealed to be stone mannequins. Night turned back to day, and the shadows disappeared to reveal the Iwa Anbu team surrounding their comrade.

""Did you really think we'd fall for something that obvious?" Otter asked through the sound of grinding teeth.

"Maybe not." the man smiled. "But it's still serving its purpose."

The Konoha Anbu widened their eyes, turning towards the civilians. That was when all hell broke loose.

The refugees began screaming in fright, huddling together for protection. They were still under the effects of the illusion, and they ducked and ran from illusionary blows.

One of them broke from the pressure, screaming out at the top of their lungs "their escorting an Inventor and Nobles!"

As one, the refugees they had hidden among stepped away, showing the group of nobles the Konoha ninja had been sent to escort.

Probably in an effort to save their own skins, the nobles pushed Bashford-san away from them. "He's the Tinker, He's the one you want!"

Naruto watched as the Iwa Anbu team leader smirked. He gestured with his hand, and the entire Iwa team rushed forward.

Naruto watched her team meet them, clashing steel against steel, Naruto summoned clones to charge ahead of her, firing off many of the jutsu she knew.. The Iwa Anbu weren't interested in fighting however, and broke off from the fighting as quickly as they could. They slipped through the commoner refugees, mercilessly putting down any who got in their way.

The female Iwa Anbu rushed her, and Naruto blocked the kunai aimed at her head. She didn't see the second kunai until it slashed at the tendons in her arm, leaving it injured.

Naruto hissed, moving to strike with her other hand. It was not to be, however. The Iwa Anbu kicked her in the stomach the chakra enhanced briefly registered the hand she had been holding slip away before she was sent flying into a tree.

She slid down the bark, breathless, filled with pain, and all sounds ringing dully in her ears. She could hear screaming, shouted orders, an explosion which was followed by a wave of heat, and then nothing. Slowly, her senses returned, and the young ninja looked back up.

She was greeted with the sight of devastation.

Lifeless bodies lay everywhere, draining slowly of precious life force. Among them lay the injured, moaning painfully and slow. Those unharmed trembled, desperately holding the forms of loved ones both dead and injured, willing them to live.

The cries of the brokenhearted surrounded her, even as she forced herself up and over to her team.

Taicho was crouched, holding his arm. The sleeve was burned off, and his arm was covered in burn marks. The only explanation she could think of was that he was caught in the tail end of the explosion. Other than Taicho and herself, no one on her team had any new injuries.

Inu-Taicho grunted as he wrapped his wound. "Do a roll call. Find out who's missing. Give help to the wounded and do what you can for the dead."

Naruto turned, ready to carry out her orders. She had only covered two bodies from the elements (one of which was the woman who had given away the nobles to the Iwa shinobi) and treated one wounded refugee when she was interrupted by someone approaching her from behind.

She turned to greet Oscar Webster, her words dying on her tongue when she saw his face.

"I can't find Olivia."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

An hour later saw the group being reinforced when Kakashi's dogs brought various Konoha shinobi from their border stations. While the Refugees were weeping with joy, there were a chosen few who were stone faced.

Of those few individuals, Team Inu stood off to the side, debating.

"The total numbers are in. The most recent skirmish took fifty lives, adding up the losses of all the other skirmishes and those who died of wounds, we lost 121 people. Some of the wounded refugees are still hanging on, but the medic nins aren't hopeful." Itachi reported.

"We've gone through the names. The Rockheads took a total of four people. They have the inventor, two Nobles, and one five year old girl." Noda added from where she was standing next to him.

Kakashi rubbed his neck tiredly. He studied his team, observing their injuries and states of exhaustion.

Noda and Itachi were standing right in front of him at attention. Itachi looked exhausted, even through his mask. He knew how the young Uchiha felt, constant use of the sharingan was both physically and mentally exhausted. Noda looked worse for wear, her stony face didn't betray how tired she felt, but she was having trouble moving with her injured leg. Kakashi had seen many injuries in his line of work, and from the look of it Noda's was sapping much of her strength by the minute.

Kenta's arm looked worse than when he got it. The big man kept a stony exterior, so he wasn't sure how much the injury was bothering him. He knew the man enough by now that he could keep going for a while if need be.

Tano was untouched beside the various scratches and burns that dotted the surface of his skin. A quick checkup by a med-nin and the only thing he'd need was sleep.

The little blonde of their team stood a little to the side, and she looked troubled. She must have been hit the hardest of their team to discover the little girl (Olivia, was it?) had been taken. She had been wounded only an hour ago, but Kakashi could see that it was already very nearly healed. So her burden had some benefit.

Kakashi felt his humor turn to ash on his didn't make up for having the burden at all. All he had to do was look at the mask she was wearing to know how that turned out for her.

He himself was fine, ignoring the nipped flesh on his arm. If they needed to, he'd be able to set out and retrieve those taken by the Iwa Ninja..

The only question in his mind was if they really should.

"Are we going to go after them?" Naruto asked. Kakashi nearly chuckled, he had just finished asking himself.

Now that he thought about it, the answer was obvious (even if he didn't like it).

"No, there's no reason to."

"What do you mean by that?" Kenta asked, eyes wide.

Kakashi sighed. "Look, I'm not saying that to be mean. We've gotten the refugees to our border, But the mission still isn't finished. Our orders were to take the refugees to the town of Kimobetsu. Now, our team is injured, we've lost some of the refugees, and we don't know where the Rockheads went. If I send ourselves after them, we may not come back just injured."

"Do you think the Daimyo of Kodaina no Tochi will be happy when he hears that four people he sent us to escort were kidnapped?" Kenta argued.

"I'm not happy with it myself." Kakashi grunted. "I can't just endanger our lives because of reckless morals, especially when we're going into a war. The higher ups wouldn't accept it, and neither will I. As much as it pains me to leave them behind, I value your lives much more."

His team fell silent, looking frustrated. Some of them hid it well, but Kakashi's been in Anbu for years. He could tell.

He sighed. "Look, if we can think of a reason to feed to the higher ups as to why we abandoned the mission to rescue the refugees then I'm all for it, but until then we need to complete the mission." he paused here, giving them the chance to speak up.

Naruto, of all people, was the one to speak up. "They kidnapped the Tinker."

Kakashi raised his brow. "How is that going to convince the higher ups?"

"They can force him to make weapons, things we could never hope to understand without the tinker to tell us."

Kakashi brow rose. "The man made toys and curiosities. I don't see him knowing how to turn them into dangerous weapons.

Naruto shook her head. "He showed me one of his newer projects. He was making an advanced metal arm that could probably hurt a lot of our shinobi in the right hands."

Kakashi's interest peaked. A prosthetic? "How advanced was it? Did he tell you?"

"He was telling me that it was powered by a chakra battery, and that he had a seal that would control the arm in place of the wearer."

Now Kakashi was impressed. The most advanced prosthetic he had ever heard about was from Suna, and that was with heavy usage of the village's puppetry techniques. To make an arm like Naruto was suggesting was… well, revolutionary.

"I don't get it, is that a big deal?" Noda asked curiously.

"Potentially." Tano answered. "Just think of the chakra amputees could save with a limb that did the work for you. And if you added some seals, it could easily amplify the strength of the user tremendously."

Kakashi nodded along to the explanation. "That is an excellent point Ocelot-chan." Besides, with knowledge like that, it would be easy to think that the tinker had a few other, potentially dangerous projects at hand. That would be enough to satisfy any naysayers.

"Alright. I've decided, here is what we're going to do. Noda, Kenta, you two are going to finish escorting the refugees to the border. When you get there, send for reinforcement's, preferably Anbu. the rest of us…"

Kakashi summoned one of his Ninja dogs. "We're going hunting."  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Elias Bashford was not very comfortable.

Well , he supposed that's probably the point.

After all, enemy shinobi, hello!

It probably didn't help that he had a trembling five year old clinging to his bruised side, but alas.

Given the circumstances, he thinks Olivia should be allowed to be a little frightened. She was doing a better job of keeping the enemy shinobi's attention away from her than the snotty Nobles they had been taken with.

His sarcasm bled away thinking about them. A pit of worry forming in his stomach in its stead. One of them was lying awfully still. And the other one was still shouting.

"When my Uncle hears about this, he's going to have you sentenced to death!" Despite his bravado, Noble was shaking quite visibly.

"Oh, telling him is part of the plan." one of the shinobi laughed. "What do you think blackmail is?"

"That's enough Iesada."

The man from the clearing appeared, frowning at his comrade. It seemed as if he was the leader, because the Iaseda obeyed his words. If somewhat grumpily.

The man sighed. "I'm sorry about that, Noble-san. Now, as we have already identified you, please be seated and wait quietly as we identify the others. His voice was pleasant, but his face said murder.

The noble gulped and nodded, falling quiet.

The leader nodded, moving over to Elias and Olivia. "May I inquire your names."

"You can inquire, but I'm not obligated to tell you." Elias smirked.

"Please understand that this is entirely a formality, we have other, less pleasant ways of finding this information. It's in your best interest to answer truthfully." the man asked with some steal in his voice.

"I don't know why you even bother, Ittan. We should just torture it out of them."

Ittan just sighed heavily. "Patience Iesada. We don't have the time to break them."

Elias gulped. When 'Ittan' turned to look at him he answered immediately. "Elias Bashford."

Ittan nodded, searching through Elias' scrolls of projects. "Based on what you had in your pockets, you are the scientist."

"The Tinker, actually. I don't do much actual science, I just know how to build things with metal."

Ittan looked at him from the corner of his eye. Elias was sure he was annoyed at something he said.

"Either way, you will be useful to keep. Maybe we can work something out with the Higher ups." Ittan pocketed a few of the scrolls. "And who is this?" he gestured to Olivia.

Elias knew the moment he replied with 'Olivia Webster, child of the common born author Oscar Webster' that some truly horrible things would happen to her. That was probably why he didn't answer with that.

It still didn't explain why he went with "She's Kodaina no Tochi's Daimyo's illegitimate granddaughter."

Ittan's brow rose, as if he wasn't sure he believed that. "And what is she doing here?"

"Well, she wasn't always here. She used to live near the capitol, but then she was almost discovered by some of the Daimyo's political rivals. So she was sent to live out near the border, but then the war broke out, and now she's here because you kidnapped us."

The man looked as if he had mentally aged listening to the story. "That isn't what I meant. What's she doing here, with you?"

"Well, that's obvious…" Elias mentally scrambled for an answer, using the first thing he could think of. "... She's my daughter."

Ittan mouth gaped, surprised. There was a smudge of doubt in his eyes.

Whelp, if the Daimyo ever heard of this, well Elias was so dead. May as well go all out. "Yes, she's the result of my love affair with the princess. When she was almost discovered I took it upon myself to raise the child of my esteemed love ...Yuka…"

"The princess' name is Karen" the noble deadpanned from the side.

"Maybe to you, but my dear Yuka loves her pet name."

Elias could see the Iwa shinobi studying him. He felt a cold sweat all over his body, his heart palpitating madly in his chest.

Finally Ittan shrugged. "If you say so."

"You're really gonna believe the bullshit that just came out of his mouth? There is no way this kid is royal blood, she doesn't even look anything like the royal family!"

"I'll have you know my mother was blonde!" Elias shouted from the side. Not really, but they didn't know that.

Ittan turned to his comrade. "It doesn't really matter who she says she is. We're doing our research to verify their claims anyway. If a little girl gets to live that much longer its fine by me."

"I aught to kill her now. There is no way she's royal blood." Ieseda moved towards Elias, but was stopped when Ittan grabbed his arm.

"And if she really is royal blood? Will you take responsibility in front of the Tsuchikage? If you are ready for that, go right ahead."

Ieseda ripped his arm from Ittan's grasp. But his words seemed to sink in, because he growled and walked away.

Ittan shook his own head, looking at the Tinker and sighing heavily. He then left himself.

Well damn, that was terrifying.

What else could go wrong?

Barking sounded from the distance, and suddenly the Iwa Anbu were scurrying around their hidden camp. Elias groaned at his mistake.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Naruto dropped down into the clearing, three shadow clones following her. She landed on the shoulders of one of the Iwa Anbu. stabbing down sharply with her kunai.

The man pushed her off before she could get the killing blow, but the blood flowing from his head gave her a vicious satisfaction.

Her satisfaction was cut short when her shadow clones poofed out of existence. No matter, they had served their purpose.

"What were you hoping to accomplish tree-fucker?" the man she injured growled.

She tilted her head. "It got your attention, didn't it?"

The Iwa team looked at each other in confusion.

"Tell me, how does it feel to be ambushed?"

The Iwa team could only widen their eyes before they were forced to move.

Unfortunately for them, two of them were caught when hands burst out from the ground, attaching to their ankles. They were forced to stand there as a full sized fireball came from the forest and slammed into them. Their screams were loud on her ears.

Naruto's team came out in almost full force, charging at their counterparts.

She clashed steel with the man she had injured, slashing at him as fast as she could. Her smaller size meant it was easier for her to dodge his strikes than it was for him to dodge hers, Not to mention he was still reeling from the cuncussion her blow likely gave him.

It was over before it really began.

She sliced at his leg, and he collapsed to his knee. Before he could move, she hit his head again with the butt of her kunai. This, combined with the previous trauma, forced him into unconsciousness.

It seemed as though Noda and Kentasent reinforcements, if the noises coming from that direction were what she thought they were.

The Iwa team's leader wasn't having that. "Fall back, retreat!"

Naruto watched them disappear in disbelief. They spent days chasing after them, attacking, killing and injuring her comrades, only to turn tail the moment they got a taste of their own medicine?

Her anger swelled in her stomach. "Cowards!" she grumbled.

"Nevermind them." Itachi stated. "Taicho ordered us to search the grounds."

As the area around the hidden base filled with fellow Konoha ninja, she searched with Itachi through the camp grounds. Stashed away in one of the back corners were the captives.

"Over here." she called to Itachi, crouching through the opening of the large tree and into the space within. She studied the forms of the captives.

Bashford-san and Olivia-san were fine, if a little shaky. One of the nobles was unconscious, and the other looked roughed up. But they were all alive.

And that lifted a weight off of her chest she hadn't know was there.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"We lost three Ninja, spent all that time and energy and what do we have to show for it!" Kiko ranted as they sped through the forest. "Absolutely nothing!"

Kumanosuke, much less energetic than her, but just as angry, buried his head in his hands. "Oh, the council will have our heads for this. We have nothing to show them, even though we swore we'd bring back something useful."

"Not necessarily." Ittan mused, holding up the scroll. "Not necessarily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's finally finished.
> 
> Now, the story is at a pretty good point where I'm comfortable to begin some other stories. Don't worry, this story will always come first, it's not stopping. I just want to make some one-shots or something top help me out when I'm having a hard time writing a chapter here.
> 
> If it comes down to updating this or another story, this will have precedence.
> 
> it's kind of like my brain child at this point.
> 
> anyway, this was a B*tch and a half to write. what do you guys think is in the scroll?
> 
> you'll probably see it soon anyway, but I'm trying to get some correspondence between author and reader.
> 
> If you like the story, don't be afraid to favorite and leave a review.
> 
> thanks all, and I'll probably be going back soon and correcting typos in all my chapters.
> 
> it seems every time I post this at mid-night i leave it unedited, and that just plain looks bad.
> 
> anyway, this chapter was supposed to be even longer, but I cut myself off at this point. I figured the next part would fit nicely as it's own chapter. I already have an idea of what I'll name it...
> 
> keep a look out for any One-shots I post
> 
> Ja-ne
> 
> And good night.


	11. Epidode 11: The Calm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cast comes back to Konoha defeated. but not out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, out with another chapter.
> 
> this ones a bit shorter, and is a bit slower. Still I hope you enjoy.

Team Inu walked through the gates, the picture of exhaustion and defeat.

It had taken them only hours to regroup and finish escorting the refugees to their destination, keeping their newly acquired hostage sedated the entire trip. After that, it was a hard run back to Konoha, which took a full day of non stop running to make it from where their mission end.

The sooner they reported their losses the better. And it was best the Hokage heard it from the lips of the responsible party first.

Which was why Inu had requested Bashford-San to accompany them. He knew more about what the enemy had gotten their hands on than anyone, if his claims about the missing scroll were to be believed. And considering their luck on this mission, Kakashi was willing to believe him.

The hidden Anbu allowed his team to pass without pause, the team jumping across Konoha's rooftops flawlessly despite the burdens they carried.

The team came to a stop at the Hokage's Tower, Tano-san letting Bashford-San down from the piggyback he was carrying him.

"Kenta-san. Please take the hostage to T&I. Don't forget to fill out the forms letting them know where we got him and where he comes from." Kakashi sighed tiredly, greatly desiring to pinch his nose but for his Anbu mask.

"Hai Taicho." The bear of a man acknowledged, shifting the bundle on his shoulders and jumping away in a blur of movement. The rest of the team, as well as Elias Bashford, made their way into the Hokage's Tower.

The flight up the stairs seemed long, and each step brought with it an increase to the exhaustion and disappointment he had already been feeling. He could only imagine how the other felt, although he didn't have to guess what Bashford-San was feeling. The man's fidgeting made it clear.

Soon they were outside the Hokage's office, waiting for the secretary to wave them in. It didn't take very long before they were standing in front of the Hokage.

They bowed politely, silently waiting for their Kage to address them.

The Third Hokage cleared his throat. "Team Inu, I see that you've completed your mission."

"Hai Hokage-Sama. We ran into complications that prevented us from completing the mission satisfactorily." Kakashi admitted.

The aged Hokage quirked his eyebrow, and Kakashi followed his unspoken command.

He explained everything that happened, from their departure of Konoha all the way until they arrived at the gate. He did not spare a single detail, reporting the number of deaths and what they knew of the enemy they had engaged.

The Hokage stroked his beard in thought, even as his face wore heavy. He turned to look at the Tinker. "I assume you are Elias Bashford, are you not?"

Bashford-San stepped forward, Boeing politely. "I am, Hokage-Sama."

The Third nodded, turning toward the members of Kakashi's team. "Inu-san, Bashford-San will report directly to me. The rest of you are dismissed for now."

They waited as team Inu filed out of the room obediently. Once the door was shut, the Third Hokage turned back to the Tinker.

"Please Bashford-San, Have a seat."

Kakashi pulled out a chair from a concealed closet, sliding it directly in front of the Hokage's desk.

Bashford watched this wearily, eying Kakashi's movements with caution. Once the Anbu captain came to a stop, with his arm held in a gesture of 'sit' The Tinker took the seat.

Kakashi pushes the chair, with Bashford, in. He stood over the man's shoulder.

While Bashford was nervously eying him from the corner of his eye, the Hokage leant forward, folding his hands together and giving off the aura of deadly seriousness.

"Now, Bashford-San. I'm going to need you to tell me exactly what was in the scroll."

Kakashi's sensitive hearing picked up the man's gulp. "I'm guessing you want to know everything?" His voice was surprisingly strong for how nervous Kakashi could tell he was.

"Every last detail."

Bashford sighed heavily, running a tired hand over his face. "I'm a tinker, I like to make things. Sometimes the things I make require me to study certain subjects so I can figure out how to make it work. I can't imagine that it would take a genius to figure out how to turn my work into weapons, even if that was not the intent."

He grunted at himself. "That scroll contained most of the prototypes of my more recent project, such as my boom-stick, my rodent remover, and the Mechanical arm I showed your shinobi earlier. It also contained some gizmos I turned into toys for children, but I can't imagine the enemy would find much use for them."

The Third Hokage listened to the words intently. He stroked his beard in thought, turning to the tinker. "Do you have any extra of these prototypes on you?"

The Tinker shook his head. "No. I usually just throw all my prototypes into one box if I'm not currently working on it. When I was able to seal them away I put it all in the same scroll."

The Hokage grimaced. "That's a problem." His grimace turned into a polite smile. "One I'm hoping you can help us with."

Bashford-San immediately stood, shaking his head violently. "Nuh-uh. No way. I will not be making weapons of war! I made myself a promise to never feed into that evil machine, and I don't intend to start now!"

"You already have." Hiruzen's entire demeanor darkened considerably. It was almost scary for Kakashi. "It was you're machine's that the enemy took. It won't be long before they begin to utilize them."

Bashford "look, I regret that my inventions fell into enemy hands. I really do. But I cannot under good conscience start down that road. I will not be responsible for the deaths that lead to." He turned to leave.

Kakashi shrunk away as a stifling prescience began to roll off of The Hokage. The wizened man stood slowly, taking his time, knowing he had stopped both of the others in their tracks.

"Elias Bashford. If you leave this room, know this. You will not be persecuted, no. You will be allowed to leave. We will not offer you protection, even if the enemy learns your location. Trust me, you will not be treated well in Iwa. You will be forced to make weapons, under threat of death. Not of you, but of your loved ones."

"And if none of this bothers you, know this. You will have to bear the death of every citizen of the Land of Fire that falls victim to your creations. Every soldier run through when the enemy hunts them down with glee. Of every parent who can no longer see their children when they are mailed of their senses when your creations deprive them of it. Of every child whose destiny is destroyed by your 'gizmos'. And when this village falls. When the enemy has conquered every nation that stands against them, you will look at the flames, the rubble, the corpses and the survivors. you will look at them and know, that you tinkered this into reality… will you then with your blood soaked hands be able to justify your 'un-involvement'?"

Kakashi could see Bashford's hands shaking on the doorknob. "And that will change if I make weapons for you? I'm not stupid! I'll just have more deaths to be responsible for!"

"No." Hiruzen shook his head. He released the pressure he had built up, allowing his companions to relax. "You will be giving us a fighting chance. A way to save those the enemy would ruthlessly slaughter, to prevent the annihilation of countries and their cultures. I am offering a way forward from your mistake."

"I… I will think on it." Bashford-san resigned.

"Be sure that you do." The Hokage allowed. He turned to Kakashi. "Inu-san, please escort Bashford-san to his quarters."

Kakashi bowed, following the man out the door.

Behind him, finally alone, Hiruzen Sarutobi slumped to his seat. He lit his pipe, almost desperately filling and lighting it. He did not like doing things like that at all.

The lives of Konoha and the Land of Fire matter more than one Tinker's.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Elias closed the door behind him, finally alone. He sank heavily into the provided sofa.

Elias Bashford wept bitterly.

All his vows were now for naught. And soon, his burden would grow with every life lost.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Naruto walked through the Anbu headquarters, towards her bunk. She needed to grab a change of clothing before she spent the night at Noda's.

Ok, so she didn't really need a change of clothes. She already had a few pairs and some other personal things in the guest room of Noda's home. She just needed some time alone.

She wasn't feeling all that great.

Naruto entered her assigned room, stopping at her bed. She pulled out some clothes from her chest, brushing aside the scrolls from the lid. She paused.

Scrolls?

Naruto picked them up curiously. She didn't own any scrolls. Least of all did she keep any here. Where did they come from?

She opened one, eyes widening at the knowledge contained inside.

Her head turned on a swivel, looking around the room for the owner. Nobody was there except her.

Well, it wouldn't hurt if she borrowed them would it? Besides, the scrolls were on her chest. If the owner didn't want their things being lost they'd keep it in their own space.

She grabbed the scrolls, wrapping them in the clothes for transport. Then she placed the bundle in her bag.

It didn't negate the feelings she had on the mission, but she was still excited to learn new things.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kakashi made his way back to the Hokage's office. He had been called in again this morning, yesterday had been the day they returned. He didn't know why the Hokage wanted him so soon.

He stepped into the office. "You wanted to see me, Hokage-sama?"

"Yes Inu-san. I must inform you of your team's deployment." He shuffled through his papers, before handing Kakashi a scroll. "You'll be leaving for the front lines. The details are in the scroll."

"The front lines? Hokage-sama, what about Naruto?" Kakashi's eyes were wide.

Hiruzen ribbed the out of his eyes. "Kakashi, please."

Kakashi pauses at the mention of his name.

"I need my best shinobi to be where they are told. I am not assigning anyone anywhere lightly. I need you to lead our forces from the front, where you can do the best work. I also cannot coddle Naruto. It will only hurt her in the long route."

"And what if she gets hurt, or worse?"

"That is why she is on your team." Hiruzen answered immediately. "You did promise to keep her safe, after all."

"But the front lines?"

"I get it. I really do. But she cannot be placed on any other team. I do not trust them to have her best interest at heart." Hiruzen sighed heavily. "This is war Kakashi. I have to think about everyone's safety, not Just Naruto-Chan's. And, though I hate to say this, her burden will be… useful." Even as he said this, his face scrunched up in distaste.

"How can you say something like that?" Kakashi muttered darkly. (He hadn't meant to voice his thoughts.)

"I don't like it either, as I said. But know that if I did not truly care for her, I would not be so careful on which team to put her on based on how biased they aren't."

"She should not be in Anbu, but circumstances haven't been kind. The least I can do is give her people who care enough to protect her with their lives."

Kakashi slumped down, accepting the scroll.

What would Minato-sensei think, them sending his daughter into war?  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Iruka grimaced, shuffling through his belongings. He was packing up his desk of his personal effects to make room for his replacement.

It saddened him greatly. He had found his calling in teaching, and he enjoyed it immensely. Unfortunately, every able bodied shinobi rank chunin on up was being deployed. As an able bodied Chunin, he was obligated to comply.

He finished putting his things in the box, lifting it up as he stood. It wasn't heavy, he kept most of his things at home.

He almost plowed right through his replacement.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there." He laughed off, helping the woman center herself.

She was pretty, her black hair done up in a convenient bun. Her green eyes focused on him, the barest of annoyance creeping in at the edges. The scars on her face, and the crutches that balanced her body in place of the missing leg, betrayed her past service. "It's no big deal, Iruka-san. I'm here to see if you needed any help emptying your office."

He gave her a polite smile. "No thank you, I didn't have that much to pack away anyway." As evidence, he held up the single cardboard box.

She smiled back just as politely. "Then may I accompany you out? I have some inquiries about the classes I will be taking over."

"Certainly, miss?(1)"

"My name is Saeko."

"Saeko-san. What questions did you have?" He asked a the two of them began walking to the exit.

"I've been hearing that one of the younger classes is filled with the heirs of the clans, where exactly do their education stand as opposed to the other students?"

"The clans and the academy have an arrangement. Mostly, we take care of the core basics, such as the basic knowledge and skills they need for their ninja careers. The clans will take over when it comes time for them to learn their clan skills. You won't have to worry too much about that for a while, they don't start learning that until their third year. So for now, they are all on the same level as the civilian children, with a few certain exceptions. All the information should be in the scrolls here."

He shuffled his hold on the box, handing her the scroll. Their conversation continued all the way to the door of the academy.

He held open the door for his peer, turning to continue walking.

He froze in surprise.

"Iruka-sensei!" He was met with the smiling faces of his students, from all his classes.

He turned his surprised gaze to Saeko, who held a conspiratory gleam in her eyes.

"They wanted to say their farewells before you left." She took the box from his hands.

He found out why when some of the students from his older class dog piled on him.

"Where are you going sensei?"

"Is it true you're gonna fight in the war?"

"Hey, hey! Are ya gonna be a hero sensei?"

Iruka laughed, ruffling the hair of a few of the students. "Yes, I'm being shipped out to one of the borders. I don't think I'll see that much action. I don't think I'll get the chance Kamiko."

One of the younger students hugged him tightly. "Don't get hurt sensei!"

His smile shrank just a little. The poor girl's father was in the hospital now, under a medically induced coma. He had been in one of the jonin teams trying to keep Iwa out before the war escalated.

"I'll be fine, everyone. I won't even be seeing any combat." A white lie. Everyone on the front saw combat. He hoped his position didn't see anything major.

He looked at the position of the sun, grimacing. "I'm sorry, but I have to finish packing."

"Come in everyone, you heard your sensei. Time to get back to class."

Everyone groaned heading back inside, most of them hollering a last farewell. Iruka stood, taking the box from Saeko. "Thank you."

"It was no trouble." She smiled.

"Please take care of them." He bowed.

"I will."

Iruka turned and walked down the street and away from his teaching career. He wished he had more… time. Time with his students. Time teaching.

His only prayer to Kami was that he could return and teach again.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Itachi walked through his home, ignoring the greetings of his cousins. He had to pack again, sadly. He wasn't sure when he would return, so he was packing everything he'd need for the next two weeks. If he needed more, konoha would likely set up a supply line to provide for its shinobi on the field.

He entered his room, beginning his packing.

He was halfway through when he felt something collapse into his leg. He sighed.

"Hello Sasuke."

"You're leaving again? You just got here!"

"I'm afraid so. Hokage-sama is sending me on an important mission with my team."

"You always say that!" Sasuke pouted.

"And that is because every mission is important." Itachi smiled.

Sasuke's pouted even more, if that was possible. "That's not fair. You promised you'd help me train when you got back from your last mission."

Kami, the things he'd do for this kid. "Tell you what. I have a scroll I can give you with a neat jutsu in it. You master that before I get back, and I'll train with you for a full week."

Sasuke grabbed the scroll excitedly. He opened the scroll, eyes widening. "Hey, this looks really hard! Nii-san, how am I supposed to learn this before you get back?"

"The mission is going to last a while. You'll have time."

"You're going to be gone for that long? That's not fair!"

Itachi stares at his brother incredulously. "I have a teammate your age. She doesn't whine as much."

"Woah. What's she like?"

Itachi sighed. Might as well keep the kid occupied as he packed. He began to tell him all about his team. Of course, he called them by there code names. Brother Sasuke may be, but he wasn't exactly to know the names of Anbu agents.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kenta lifted his little nephew over his shoulder, the little tyke giggling madly. The bear of a man had a matching grin of his own, fondly tossing and catching his nephew.

"Kenta! Be careful!" His brother-in-law shouted, eyes wide with worry. He only responded with a laugh.

"Again!" Udon giggled loudly, completely contradicting his father.

"That's enough you two. Now, come sit down for lunch. Kenta, are you going to be able to stay to eat?" His sister shouted from the kitchen.

"I've got a few more hours until I head out. I can have something quick to eat before I go." He answered her.

It seemed so surreal, after that mission. But he wouldn't let it cause him to miss out on his family. He only had precious little time to spend with his family. He wanted to enjoy it before he left for quite a long time.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Naruto are her food absently, reading her scroll curiously as she chewed.

"No reading at the table!" Tano groaned out for the hundredth time.

"Sorry." Naruto smiled sheepishly, putting the scroll away.

"Oh, leave her alone Tano! She's reading of her own violation. You know how hard it was to get me to read when I was in the academy." Noda defended.

"You're no better! Get your feet off the table Noda." Tano groaned. Didn't anyone have manners?

Noda smiled unapologetically. She wiggled her toes teasingly, turning her attention to Naruto. When Tano looked ready to blow, Noda put her feet down, sending him a sweet smile. He turned and pouted. "Where'd you get those scrolls anyway Naruto?"

The girl shrugged. "They were lying on my chest in my bed in Anbu headquarters. I think one of the other Anbu left it out for me or something."

Noda shrugged, slurping down her food. She noticed Tano twitch at the sound. "Oh well, finders keepers. It doesn't seem too important. If the Anbu didn't want to lose it they'd have kept better track of it."

"Noda." Tano shook his head wearily. He turned to Naruto. "Take care of the scrolls, and when you finish learning from them hand it to the front office in the Hokage's tower. Noda, you can't encourage her to do things like that."

"What? It's not stealing."

"Nevertheless. The point still stands that it isn't exactly Naruto's to take." He sighed. "Though I guess your point is also valid."

"See? I told you I was right." Noda smirked, grinning when Noda groaned at her words.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hours later, many of the shinobi of Konoha set out to the front. They would join up with one of the caravans of Samurai and foot soldiers from the capitol of the Land of Fire. From there, they would make their way to one of the many forts dotting the Land of Fire, where they would be redistributed across the many fields of battle.

And so, the official beginning of the first true world war, as historians view it, began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and done. hope you enjoyed.
> 
> 1: i couldn't think of how to say it in Japanese terms, so i just put it in English.
> 
> as i said, this chapter is slower. I'm trying to go for a bit more of a slow pace focusing on the humanity of the shinobi.
> 
> Anyway, I'm on a timelimit today, so I'll skedadle.
> 
> one last thing. I start school up again this week, so I'm going to have a bit of trouble getting back to writing. I'll still try to update, but I don't know if I'll have the same amount of time to write.
> 
> Ja-ne


	12. Among the Trenches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its been months since last chapter's mission, and the war is now under way. both sides have dug miles of trenches to hold onto their borders, and the appearances of new technology has made warfare deadlier than ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know what you're thinking.
> 
> 'Sworood, a third chapter in a month? you've gone insane!'
> 
> I know I am!
> 
> In all seriOsnOss. I've been really busy these last few weeks because school kicked back up, and then my financial aide didn't wanna go through and then I had to fight the IRS to get the paperwork needed and yadda yadda.
> 
> And then the most wondrous thing happened, I was able to get the paperwork I needed.
> 
> And then I thought. 'You know swordood, you know what I should really do? I should really update my story one more time before the month ends. you know, cuz your readers are so patient, and you should really reward both them and yourself.'
> 
> And then I slaved away for hours in front of my computer screen, hitting my head and trudging through hours of writers block and the need for perfection.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy, because I BROKE MYSELF FOR YOU!
> 
> ...
> 
> Nah, i'm kidding. I didn't break myself. but i do hope you like the new chapter.

It had only been a few months since the start of the war, and already thousands of people had been displaced from their homes.

Long caravans of people could be seen traveling the roads, seeking refuge away from the fighting. These were the people who had escaped the war front.

One such caravan was reaching Konoha now.

Oscar Webster carried his daughter to the gates, mentally preparing himself for the identification process that would follow. Because of the nature of the war, the gates of Konoha were closed. Instead, any person seeking entrance, whether refugee or client, had to be screened and processed before being sent to wait in an undisclosed location outside Konoha's walls. It was there that any client was met by a shinobi, and the refugees were given relief.

Oscar certainly didn't blame the shinobi's paranoia. He had seen what carelessness cost the town he had first been in. Almost everyone was weary of refugees these days. Especially refugees. One never knew how many spies were hiding under the guise of an unfortunate casualty of war.

As far as Oscar was concerned, as long as they didn't come anywhere near him or his daughter, he didn't care what they did. Let the shinobi handle the shinobi.

Oscar and the rest of the latest batch of refugees made their way toward the gates. Once there, they settled in the best they could and waited.

It seemed like an eternity to Oscar before any sort of change occurred. And it came in the form of flickering leaves. One second, they were alone, the next a full team of masked shinobi flickered into existence, some of which carried clipboards, the rest weapons of various design.

"Step into line and be ready for inspection."

Oscar stepped into line as quickly as the other refugees, setting down Olivia as he did so. He shushed his daughter's complaints gently. He did not want to question the shinobi's abrupt tone.

One by one, each refugee was interrogated, patted down, and their belongings searched. The shinobi's did one last test, holding up some sort of scroll and waving over each of their persons. He didn't know what it was for, but they seemed to have passed the test, because they were blindfolded and led away.

It didn't take very long before the shinobi was in front of him..

"Name?' The shinobi's tone of voice was deadpan, his shoulders relaxed. Oscar couldn't get a read on the man.

"Oscar Webster."

"The girl's name and relationship?"

"Olivia Webster. She's my daughter."

"Former place of residence?"

"The town of Intense, the one named after Fort Intense."

The shinobi nodded dully, writing the words down on his paper. "Present your identification papers. Any sort of paperwork that we can use to verify your claims will work."

Oscar shuffled through his bag of belongings, pulling out a few scraps of paperwork. "I lost a lot of my paperwork on my way to the last shelter. This was all I could recover."

The man took his papers without any sort of remorse. He looked it over, seeming to read the paper to himself.

"You are aware that this format for taxes is outdated by at least four years?"

Oscar froze. "I'm sorry? This is the same format that Kodaina no Tochi has been using for decades."

"That would be where you are wrong." the shinobi pulled out a form of his own, showing it to Oscar.

The man looked over the form, eyes wide and heart plummeting. "I don't know what to say."

The man nodded to himself, pulling the paper away from his view. The letters of the form melted away from before his eyes, before Oscar could no longer see what it contained.

The shinobi ignored Oscar's bewilderment, turning to his fellows. "He checks out."

"What?"

The gathered shinobi ignored his questions. "If you would step this way and let our Inuzuka dogs search you for contraband Refugee-San."

Oscar took his daughter's hand, leading her as the shinobi led him to where the large beasts were gathered in confusion.

The dogs began sniffing them both, causing Olivia to let out small giggles. He was nervous when the dogs kept sniffing her.

"Stop teasing the refugee's child Jenkai." the woman's voice came out exasperated. The dog just gave the shinobi a look, before licking Olivia's face in farewell.

The woman patted them both down, never straying nor lingering in any place. Finally the search ended. "They're both clean." the woman shouted to her superiors.

Another shinobi walked up, waving the scroll over his and his daughter's persons. Again, to his befuddlement, nothing happened.

The shinobi seemed satisfied that nothing did, waving their colleagues over.

Soon, they were both blindfolded. "Inuzuka-san will lead you to your designated shelter. Once there, you will be given a scroll with your information and appointment time. While you are at the shelter, there will be rules that will need to be followed, see the scroll for them. Do not wander off at any time, or we will be forced to treat you as enemy agents."

Oscar nodded his understanding quickly. He felt a hand on his shoulder. "You ready?"

Again, Oscar nodded his assent. He felt a powerful lurch, and then a tingling in his stomach. Soon his head was spinning.

While the trip itself didn't take long, it seemed to have lasted forever. As soon as he was free, he lurched down to his knees, gasping for breath.

Past the sounds of his own gasping, he could hear the gleeful giggles of his little girl, as well as the whisper of an amused huff from the shinobi.

The blindfolds were taken away, flooding his vision with light.

"As you can see, we've reached your destination."

He couldn't see it, but he knew thanks very much. He stood back up on his feet, blinking his bleary eyes.

Once he composed himself, the shinobi handed him a scroll. "If you have any questions, the answers should be in the scroll we gave you. If you don't see the answer to your question, the help desk is in the building down the street."

And with that, the Websters were alone.

Oscar looked around. The refugee center was as big as a small town, surrounded by all sides by intimidating cliffs that towered over the town in a steep, almost 90 degree angle climb.

The buildings all looked relatively new, if a bit plain. The wood of the buildings were all exposed, and there wasn't much in terms of decoration.

But still, it was much better than the slums that were the "Refugee centers" of other towns. He wasn't going to get his hopes up by expecting hot water or much electricity though.

Oscar sighed. "Come on Olivia. Let's go find our room."

…

"Olivia?" Oscar turned around, almost frantically. He sighed in relief when he spotted her looking at something through the window of a building.

"Olivia, sweety. What have I told you about running off?"

She shrugged. "I saw Mr. Bashford."

"What?" Oscar turned to look where she was pointing. Sure enough, there he was.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bashford sipped his sake slowly, eyes listless.

He made it a habit to personally witness the refugees that came to Konoha. Most of the money he made from his recent… partnership with Konoha came straight to this place, to provide for the people his inventions stole the lives of.

It did nothing to ease his guilt.

He gulped down the rest of his drink angrily, signaling the bartender for more.

Nothing did these days.

He was knocked out of his rumination when something knocked into his back, wrapping around his sides.

"Mr. Bashford! We found you!"

"Olivia?!" Bashford turned and sure enough, there the little girl stood.

"Hey, no children allowed. This is an adult establishment." the bartender called out.

"I'm so sorry, she barged in before I could stop her."

"Oscar?!"

"That's fine, just take the kid out quick. I could get in serious trouble if people thought I was letting a kid near alcohol."

"Understood. It won't happen again."

The two shuffled out of the bar, leaving a flabbergasted Tinker behind.

He stood up immediately, slapping down a wad of Ryo to pay his bill, before practically scrambling to get outside.

He could hear the Websters just outside the door.

"Now, what did I just tell you about running ahead like that?"

"Not to?"

"Why?"

"So that I didn't get lost."

"Exactly."

Bashford opened the door, turning to the two of them. Oscar turned upon seeing him. He smiled. "Ah, Mr. Bashford, sorry about disturbing…"

Bashford didn't listen to the rest of his sentence, instead he swept both of them into a crushing hug. He laughed almost hysterically. "You're alive! I can't believe it, I kept thinking the worst had happened and here you are!"

He set the two of them down, studying them head to toe. "Come, we have much to discuss."  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two men stood in the room where Oscar had put Olivia down for a nap. The room was tiny, meant to serve as a bedroom, dining room and living room all in one. Oscar was just glad to have his own room.

Bashford drank from his flask, staring out the window forlornly.

"You look like crap." Oscar stated bluntly.

"I am crap." Bashford huffed, not one bit amused at himself.

"What happened? After we were split up?"

Bashford shook his head. "I was brought here to Konoha. I'm making weapons now." The last part was bitter.

"Why?"

Bashford shrugged. "If I don't make it, someone else will. Either they won't get it right or they will. Either way, my inventions will be turned towards malicious causes. I don't even know what purpose I made them to start with anymore."

Oscar sighed. "What are they making? Don't wars usually bring with them dangerous inventions, isn't that kind of thing normal? What makes your inventions so different?"

"They're much more effective. The boom-sticks are already giving regular people the ability to harm shinobi. And that isn't even getting into any of my other inventions."

"Boom-sticks? You mean guns?" Oscar shook his head. "I don't think guns are your invention."

"It wasn't the boom-sticks I invented. It was the advancement in ammunition."

"How so?"

"Traditional boom-sticks load the gunpowder in the barrel, and then the metal pellet. Most of the weapons only offer one shot before needing to reload. Some solved this problem by introducing extra barrels. But those made the Boom-sticks bulky, and you still only had one or two shots total. I, in my stupidity, thought it would be a smart idea to preload each bullet with its own powder, which saved space in the actual gun. And then I proceeded to put the bullets in cases that allowed the Boom-sticks to fire at least fifteen times a minute."

Oscar nearly stumbled in his shock, his mouth moving up and down in surprise. "Fifteen rounds a minute?! That's insane!"

"Isn't it?" Bashford's laugh was hollow. "A single person can kill fifteen others in a single minute, and I alone am to blame for bringing it to creation."

His head dropped into his shaking hands. "What have I done?"

Oscar put a hand on Bashford's shoulder. He stumbled for words of comfort."They would have found a way to make this technology sooner or later Elias. Besides, the shinobi have been killing greater numbers than that for generations."

"And that makes it okay?"

"No, it doesn't. But you did not create this technology with the mindset to kill. It is hardly your fault that it has been repurposed to do so, nor is it your fault that you have been forced to invent more machines as such."

"That doesn't make me feel better Oscar. But thanks for trying." Bashford could only pray for forgiveness, and do everything in his power to earn it.

He only hopes he can one day receive such forgiveness from those who had to face such devastation.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Loud explosions woke Naruto from her weary slumber. Heavy shells that were explosively launched collided with the earth in a pillar of dirt and smoke, making troops dive for cover and pray that the artillery missed the trenches, which were their only defense.

But it was not the explosions of distant artillery, the crash of the shells making contact with the dirt outside the trenches, nor the rush of dirt falling back to the earth like rain that had her rushing for her gear.

It was because of what came after those explosions that had her quickly strapping her kunai holster back to her thigh, and rushing to her post.

"The Rockheads are rushing No Man's Land!"

"Baionnettes topside! Move it! Move it!"

A shell landed just outside the trench she was in, drowning out all noise until the ringing subsided, but that did not stop her shambling past all the men of the trenches.

Her hearing slowly returned as she reached where she needed to be. She could see the men raising their guns over the trench line, firing off their weapons with loud cracks. She could see where Taicho and Kenta were putting themselves to work in No man's Land by the way several of the men would stop moving, their legs sinking through the ground and halting their movement.

From the jutsu being fired overhead and into the approaching forces, she could tell that Noda and Tano were also being put hard at work with the other shinobi capable of long range jutsu.

That was not where she was needed.

Her job was just as vital, but no more important as any other shinobi on the front line.

She was there to prevent enemy shinobi from taking out their vulnerable, non shinobi allies.

Which was odd… where were the enemy shinobi? They were supposed to have been the first ones to make it through No Man's Land.

Now that she thought about it, the forces currently charging at them looked smaller in number as well.

She was shocked out of her thoughts when the ground beneath her feet began sinking.

She jumped back, glaring dangerously at the hole that began emerging below her. She reached for her tool bag, withdrawing a flare and lighting it.

And then she threw a kunai with an explosive note down the open hole, hopping away from the blast radius and the surprised Iwa ninja inside. She heard a brief exclamation from multiple sources, most likely the various Iwa allied troops, before the explosion collapsed the mouth of the tunnel.

"Enemies in the trenches! They're tunneling under No Man's Land!"

The gunman who shouted that, a middle aged man who had been conscripted into the army of Kodaina no Tochi, was quickly cut down from behind by one of the emerging Iwa shinobi.

The Jounin looked around eagerly, ready for her next kill. They faced each other, eyes meeting masked visage, and then they charged each other.

Naruto pulled out her tantō quickly, blocking the downward strike of the Iwa Jounin. The two of them exchanged multiple blows, each trying to find the weak spot in the other's form.

The larger woman had more strength due to her larger frame, and much more experience, but Naruto was quick and agile, which allowed her to dodge the strength based blows being thrown at her, and she had been taught exclusively by five Anbu level shinobi for almost three years now. Overall, while the Jounin had the upper hand, Naruto was able to stay alive and not get injured badly.

The Iwa Jounin clicked her tongue in annoyance, backing off from her engagement. She began to form hand signs for a jutsu.

Naruto threw kunai at the woman, hoping to stop her from finishing the technique. Unfortunately, the blades bounced off of a hastily erected wall.

The earth beneath Naruto moved in a jerking vertical motion, forcing Naruto to throw herself down. She could feel the breeze from dozens of metal pellets flying through the air above her, some of them just inches away from piercing her flesh. Naruto rolled off the pillar, away from the Iwa Jounin who wished to kill her.

She narrowed her eyes when another spike of chakra came from behind the earthen wall. Only for her eyes to shoot wide open as she threw herself into a divot in the trench wall, just barely fast enough to avoid being squashed when the large block of earth was sent flying down the trench line. It smashed into the wall of the trench's turn, losing its form quickly from the lack of chakra pumping through it and sending the block crumbling into a mound of dirt.

She wiped at the new scratch on her mask, turning to glare at the Iwa shinobi.

The Jounin smirked, hands going into the same hand signs again.

Oh no that bitch didn't! She better not be trying to push her out of the trenches and into the cover- less No Man's Land.

Naruto rushed the woman, a quick hand sign forming two clones of the blonde. The clones rushed along the walls of the trench, while Naruto herself rushed down the middle.

The wall underneath the right clone shot out in a pillar, launching the clone into the opposite wall and forming a bar. Naruto slid underneath, pushing herself back up and rushing at the woman with her remaining clone.

The woman blocked the sword strike of the clone, throwing the chakra creation over her shoulder. Naruto followed up with her own strike, tantō meeting the woman's wakizashi.

Blow after blow after blow was blocked, and Naruto kept swinging. She could feel the woman's defense faltering. And then…

*snap*

Naruto stared at her broken blade in horror, head swiveling up to look at her opponent.

The woman smirked, thrusting her sword at her. Naruto dodged the strike. The woman kept swinging, nearly taking off Naruto's head at one point.

Naruto had no space, constantly backpedaling to stay away from the woman's attacks. It almost seemed hopeless.

"Aaaahh!"

The Iwa Jounin paused in her assault to dodge the charge of the Kodaina no Tochi foot-soldier, tripping the kid as he charged past.

The kid rolled onto his back quickly, raising his rifle and emptying his clip as quick as the bolt action rifle allowed.

Unfortunately, the previous fighting must have taken its toll on his ammunition, because the clip only had two bullets in it. Both of which the Jounin dodged, if only because it was easy to dodge away from someone's line of fire before they shot.

The Iwa Jounin moved quick, holding the kid by his throat and moving to end his life.

The distraction allowed Naruto to rush in and stab at the Jounin, who was forced to back away from her victim.

Naruto rushed the woman recklessly, and the Jounin laughed, raising her Wakizashi to stab her.

Blade pierced flesh, and the Iwa Jounin laughed louder.

The woman's laugh turned into wet gurgles, and a broken blade pushed out from the back of her throat. The Naruto at the end of the woman's blade popped into smoke, while behind the woman Naruto pulled her broken blade out from the woman's falling corpse.

"Thanks."

Naruto looked over to the kid, who was staring at the dead Jonin with wide eyes. Naruto nodded, offering her hand to him.

The kid extended his own shaky hand, clasping hers. She lifted him up. Only to curse and pull him down with her, taking cover among the corpses of recently dead foot-soldiers of both sides.

A volley of bullets pelted the area around the two of them, piercing mud, dirt and flesh indiscriminately. The two of them held their breaths until the volley came to an end.

Instantly Naruto was moving. She grabbed a rifle off of a dead Taiga no Kuni foot-soldier, lifting it and aiming at the Land of Earth riflemen down the trench-line. She fired off a shot.

The bullet instantly pierced the head of the leading soldier, who dropped to the muddy ground. The soldiers around him cursed, finishing their reloading.

Naruto pulled her trigger again.

And cursed when nothing happened. She abandoned her position, rushing to the cover of a divot in the wall of the trench. Bullets flew past her position, and she hit the rifle in frustration.

Why wasn't the stupid thing not working? Better yet, why hadn't she paid attention to how they were used? She certainly spent enough time fighting alongside allies who used them.

From now on, she would never be arrogant enough to discard a weapon just because it wasn't something typically used by ninja. Even if she wouldn't use it much during her career, she vowed to at least learn how it worked.

She was almost tempted to discard it and go back to traditional ninja weapons. Only, she didn't have enough chakra to summon enough clones to dispatch all of the troops.

Neither was she fast enough to dodge all of those bullets.

Sure, she knew shinobi who were, namely Jounin level shinobi like Taicho or the odd chunin. But she herself just wasn't fast enough. She'd probably dodge the first few, but there was only so much room to move around in these cramped trenches, and the rifle-men had a straight clear shot should she try rushing at them.

Besides, they each had at least five tries minimum per person in which to shoot her, and she had to reach them first before she could take them.

She stared at the rifle in frustration. How to work this thing?

Maybe…

She peaked her head out, watching the soldiers. She pulled her head back twice as fast, more bullets brushing past her hiding spot.

So she had to pull back the lever on the side? Well, shouldn't be too hard.

She pulled the metal bolt back, relieved when the metal case came popping out. She pushed the lever back to its starting position.

Was that it? Best to try.

She aimed the rifle down the corner, pulling the trigger again. She felt a thrill jolt through her body when the weapon in her hands let out a loud bang, sending its payload exploding down the barrel and into another rifleman.

Two down. Three to go.

She repeated the process again, dropping another foot-soldier. The third time didn't pay off.

It seemed the weapon was empty.

Well, she wasn't going to sit here and learn how to load the weapon while under Fire. Once was enough.

Besides, she had dropped most of the trouble anyway, the two riflemen left wouldn't be able to shoot at her nearly as fast as five of them could. She could get to them without being filled with holes now.

And so she charged forward.

Luckily she did so right then, one of them was in the process of reloading.

She went straight for the one with his rifle on his shoulder, dodging the man's shots easily enough. She dashed past the few tens of feet to where the two of them were taking cover.

She launched herself up into the air with the walls, holding the rifle like a club and bringing the butt of it cracking down on the man's head. He went down bleeding from the ears.

She turned to the other, smacking him in the face hard enough to knock him out.

Naruto turned the corner, ready to pounce.

Fortunately, there were no more enemy forces through this stretch of trench. For now anyway.

"That was awesome." She heard from behind her. She turned, eyebrow raised, and looked at the kid.

The kid seemed to have realized he said this out loud, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry, have just never seen a shinobi in action before... I'm new here…"

Naruto nodded. "Have you seen where they came from?"

The kid shook his head. "I didn't come from that direction. I do remember seeing a few holes on my way here though."

"Lead me."

...

Naruto followed the kid down the trench line, picking up another rifle to use. They went slowly, taking turns turning corners and covering the other. They didn't want to stumble onto a large group of enemies.

As they walked, they passed both bodies of the dead as well as the wounded, both sides having fought hard and paid the price for it.

Sure enough, they came across the opening of a tunnel, which had another group of riflemen just beginning to exit.

Naruto threw a kunai, which sailed true and sliced the neck of the first to poke their head out of the hole.

"Cover me." Naruto began doing hand signs.

The kid poked his rifle around the corner, shooting blindly down the tunnel. They could both hear exclamations and pained shouts, telling them that he was hitting something.

A few shots came flying out of the tunnel mouth, but it was too sporadic and badly aimed to do anything but hit the walls of the trench.

Either way, Naruto was finished with her jutsu. She stepped into the mouth of the tunnel.

"Kaatsu-fū no bōru no Jutsu!" (1)

She blew into her hands, creating a tiny ball of spinning pressurized air. The ball was emitting a whining sound, like the kind you would hear through a drafty house.

She released the jutsu, which shot itself into the darkness of the tunnel.

In the middle of No Man's Land, the earth bulged out into a big ball, rising six feet into the air in all directions. It all came buckling down, crashing down to earth and burying the tunnel, and the troops with it.

Naruto held herself up with the wall of the trench, sweating behind her mask. She still didn't have the proper control for that technique. But at least it did it's job.

"You alright?" The voice of the boy was concerned.

"Fine, just low on chakra." She replied. "Do you know where any more of these are?"

"I think I saw another down this way."

She followed the kid down the length of the trench, passing more signs of fighting. The two of them aided their allies as they went.

Finally, Naruto met up with Itachi, who had also been assigned to guard the trenches.

The other anbu member stood outside a collapsed tunnel, dealing with the wounded prisoners they would send to begin interrogating.

"Weasel."

Itachi looked up, focusing his sights on his approaching teammate. "Ocelot-san. Have you dealt with the tunnels over in your sector?"

Naruto nodded. "The fighting stopped that way. I came here to assist with the fighting."

"No need." Itachi began cleaning his blade. "The fighting has been dying down this way as well."

Sure enough, all along the trench lines, a singular phrase began to be shouted out, carrying from one side to the other.

"They're retreating!"

Along with this shout, cries of victory and celebration marked the end of the fighting. Even as the cries rang out, the enemies constant bombardment began to thin, until dispersing entirely.

"You lost your Tanto?"

Naruto shook her head. "Broken."

Itachi nodded his head. "New weapon?"

Naruto shook her head. "Someone else's."

He nodded. "Come, we should report to Inu-Taicho."  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"And then she jumped clear over the top of the trench line and bashed their head in! Like gravity didn't affect her!"

"We know how shinobi work Aiden, of course the little Anbu would be able to do that." one of the older men laughed, shrugging his blanket closer to his frame.

"But it was so cool! I've never seen anyone move like that!"

"Let me tell you a little something about your time here kid, you're going to see a lot of that kind of thing when working with shinobi. Get used to it."

"Oh, it sounds like the samurai is jealous." the man with the blanket chuckled.

"I'm not jealous! Just annoyed that's all." the samurai went back to cleaning his rifle, of which he was not at all pleased to use. However, as seen these past few months, warfare was changing. He needed to use it if he wanted to live.

Besides, he could still use his blades, even if he didn't like resorting to the rifle before the sword.

"Listen here, and listen well." the man with the blanket remarked. "The shinobi we work with are a blessing for us normal folk. If we didn't have them, why, half of us wouldn't be here right now."

"Three cheers for the shinobi!"

Naruto watched from the sideline as the men repeated the cheers. Because of the nature of the trenches, most of the men on the front-line had to sleep in tiny little dugouts, little more than holes in the trench walls. Some of the trench lines, generally the older ones or the ones more heavily fortified, had larger dugouts that provided more comfort for those it sheltered.

The soldiers of her assigned trench line had decided to dig out a large square in the trench, which the higher ups had decided to use for one of the artillery emplacements.

When the artillery wasn't being used, the men liked to gather there for communal meals, those not currently on duty repairing the defenses, scouting No Man's Land, sitting in the listening posts or stuck on watch duty, that is.

"Sounds like someone's made some fans."

Naruto turned, surprised at Noda's unexpected arrival. "Ah, Otter-chan, you scared me!"

"Mou." the older woman pouted. "None of that formal stuff Naru-chan! Call me Noda!"

"Sorry Noda-chan." Naruto quirked her head to the side. "Taicho told us to use code names for while we are on a mission."

"It's fiiine, don't be such a stickler for the rules." Noda waved off her concerns. "It's not like the higher ups can get mad at us for letting loose a bit while we're off duty. Not even they would be able to handle months of constant professionalism while fighting a war."

Naruto shrugged. She wouldn't know. The only higher up she knew was Jiji, and it's not like he was super professional whenever she saw him.

"Well, anyway, have you had any food yet? I'll go get you something. We have a choice between packed gruel or steamed rat? Which would you prefer?"

Naruto felt sick at the second choice. "Noda!"

"I'm joking, I'm joking. The gruel is only half as bad as the rat anyway."  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Itachi sat across from the fire, staring at the youngest member of their team from afar. He chewed his thumbnail, heavy with thought.

"What's on your mind, Itachi-san."

Itachi looked up, accepting the plate of food from Tano.

He turned his thoughts over in his mind, uncertain if he should reveal his concerns to the older man.

"Tell me Tano-san. Did you teach any advanced wind jutsu to Naruto-san?"

"No I haven't. Anything I taught her was strictly taijutsu and kenjutsu based."

"Ah." Itachi's chewing on his thumb grew in intensity.

"Why do you ask?"

"I've been hearing things from the soldiers. Apparently she used some sort of high rank wind jutsu to collapse a tunnel. I figured as one of the people who spent the most time with her you would know."

Tano shook his head. "I'm sure she has her sources. Perhaps Hokage-sama sent it to her. I wouldn't know."

"That's what I was worried about." Itachi murmured.

Ever since Shisui…. well. Ever since his death, Itachi had been weary of everyone connected with Danzo. And well, Danzo was known to be showing interest in Naruto's development.

Itachi wasn't sure what the man's game was, but the man never went out of his way to provide anyone with such resources that Itachi knew of. This was… worrying.

He would have to keep an eye out.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Danzo placed the denied request on the Hokage's desk, creating a loud slap.

To anyone who knew the man, this was the equivalent to slamming something.

"You want something Danzo?" The Hokage looked at the man tiredly. In front of him were various plans and intelligence, and standing at his side was his Jounin and Anbu commanders.

"You know exactly what I'm here for Hiruzen. Why have you denied my request that Uzumaki be trained in using her gift?"

"I've told you this before Danzo." Hiruzen sighed heavily. "Do not make me say it again."

"Forget your moral standpoint already Hiruzen! We're talking about the single most abundant resources of pure chakra. The access to that chakra would give us a huge advantage in this war!"

"And it would leave Naruto a lifeless husk!" Hiruzen's voice was no louder than before, but the force behind it was clear. "The seal was not meant to leak out that chakra so early in her life. Just once is already concerning, but to make her call upon it as constantly as the war we're in would break the seal and release the prisoner!"

"And so you would leave such resources untapped because of such a small risk!? We have the single most advanced seal-master in the world since the fourth on our side, he could easily keep track of her seal's condition and make adjustments accordingly!"

"Jiraiya is on his own mission." Which need I remind you, is the best place we can have it at this time. Pulling him out of his position to stick him in a war zone next to our Jinjuriki would probably win us a few battles, but it would leave us entirely defenseless and without the information we do vitally need."

Hiruzen growled. "I am not 'wasting resources' as you put it. I am simply making sure we are using them wisely and in the proper time. What good is a Jinjuriki if we burn her out before she can even reach her peak power?"

Danzo sniffed angrily. "I will accept your words for now Hiruzen. But I think you are making a mistake."

"I cannot stop you thinking so Danzo." Hiruzen accepted. "However, know this. I am still Hokage. If you do not accept my guidance for the good of the village I can and will terminate your career. Am I understood?"

"Yes. Hokage-sama." Danzo turned to leave.

Hiruzen dunk into his chair. This was the part of Hokage-ship he hated.

"Hokage-sama?"

"Right, where were we?"

"We were going over this last week's battlefield reports."

"Right, Carry on."

"Hokage-sama, the Daimyo's messengers are here. They wish to speak to you on behalf of the Generals."

Hiruzen rubbed his temples. "Tell them to come in, they might as well hear what our reports say."  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Danzo, meanwhile, stewed at his desk. His own plans and reports lay in front of him.

The teams he was sending to through enemy countries were bogging down their war effort. On top of that, they were destroying supply caravans and ambushing recruitment centers.

Teams across the borders were also stemming the tide of enemy reinforcements, keeping the a fair bit of the heat off of Konoha and her allies forces.

Even so, things weren't looking too good for the village.

So far, Konoha was the only village on the Land of Fire's side. Alongside the capitol, various countries of what had formerly been the Neutrality Chain made up the allied forces, named the Triple Ante due to the majority of the troops coming from Konoha, the Land of Fire, and Kodaina no Tochi.

On the other side was the Land of Earth, Iwa, and the rest of the lands of the Neutrality chain.

Normally, Danzo would be sure of their eventual victory. However, reports were coming in that Iwa and the Land of Earth were having talks with both the Land of water, the Land of Lighting, and their associated hidden villages. He wasn't sure how the talks were going, but if he knew anything about history, he wouldn't be surprised if, and when, the two countries joined the crusade against Konoha.

That would put the Land of Fire, and subsequently Konoha, at a three to one disadvantage. He wasn't holding out much hope with their allies in the Land of Wind. He had been steadily draining their country of money for a few years now, and he wasn't sure if they would join the war on their side, let alone at all.

Right now, he was banking on making the talks fail. Hopefully the tides would turn in Konoha's favor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Viola, another chapter finished.
> 
> I wasn't sure how great I incorporated the use of technology into the Naruto-verse. I'm hoping to make the use of technology a big focal point of the fic, maybe with how the shinobi deal with a world where tech doesn't make them obsolete, but maybe gives them serious contenders.
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> I did a ton of research while writing this chapter, specifically about rifles, trenches and various World War 1 technology. I figured, since Violet Evergarden takes place in an alternate universe during world war 1, I could use the real world as a base for things the show might not touch on.
> 
> Also, I'm not too sure how people will feel about Naruto using a gun. however, i figured that Violet did use one, so I'd include a few scenes to at least pay homage. It will not be a permanent weapon in her repertoire. Just something she uses for the scenes I feel would benefit from such an inclusion.
> 
> I also was hoping that the jutsu I made didn't seem too overpowered. essentially its just a ball of air that explodes outward. the explosion has no fire, and is just more like a fast wind. If the user is proficient enough with it, maybe they can add wind blades or something to make it deadly, otherwise its just a support jutsu.
> 
> however, in this chapter it was deadly because it was fired off into an enclosed space where people couldn't run from it, and also because it destabilized the earth on top of the tunnel. more people died from being crushed than they died from the jutsu.
> 
> Anyway, I've been writing this for a couple days now and have been agonizing over trying to get this fic out. for now, I'll leave you with the meaning for my little jutsu up top.
> 
> (1) basically means pressurized ball of wind. however, I used google-translate to translate it, so I have no Idea how accurate that actually is. I tried, really I did.


	13. Episode  13: Might of the Desert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Kazekage must decide whether or not to support Konoha

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again everyone.
> 
> I wanted to get this chapter out earlier, but with everything that's happened recently its been challenging to find the time or dedication to sit down and write. What with Corona-virus causing absolute panic everywhere and canceling/ transferring schools to online mediums, I've been sent reeling while trying to figure out how I'm going to do my work for a class that needs specific software and yadayada. Also, due to Covid-19, my financial aid hasn't been seen to by my school and I'm once again nearing broke. It got to the point where i had to sit down and just write something for fear of dropping this fic for a few weeks until everything's sorted out.
> 
> But I don't want to abandon this fic, no matter how short a time it may be. So I sat down and wrote this chapter.
> 
> Unfortunately, it isn't very long and there aren't many action scenes. But I think its still good. It's gonna mostly set up for the arrival of Suna.
> 
> Well, enjoy the chapter, and as always, feedback is welcome.

Rasa was a man who cared deeply about his village. He would not have been asked to become Kazekage by his predecessor otherwise.

His reign was dedicated to leading the village the way he felt would best benefit his village as a whole. It was that mindset that made him make many of the decisions he has.

It was what led him to fighting in the most recent shinobi world war, long after his own teammates perished in the fighting. It was what led him to marrying his wife, whom he later came to love unconditionally, to politically strengthen his claim to the Kage hat in the eyes of his village.

Was what led him to sealing the Ichibi into his son, Gaara, in an attempt to utilize the demon under their possession and provide his village another protector. What led him to ordering his own brother-in-law to assassination him, and assigning Gaara into the shinobi Force when he survived.

And now, he was faced with a new decision. Probably the biggest he would make in his entire rule as Kage.

He turned and looked at all the scrolls on his desk. All of them had something to do with the war that Konoha had landed itself in, from border reports of his own shinobi to reports of raids and supply lines being run through the land of wind that Konoha's enemies were responsible for. He knew that at least three of them were requests for aide, from the Hokage, the Fire Daimyo, or their various allies.

Rasa had been willing to refuse them before, mostly because he knew that the Wind Daimyo had begun to shift mission requests to Konoha, when they should have gone to the sand. But now he had no time for such pettiness.

Already he knew that more nations were gearing up to pick a side, most of which were rumored to be favoring Iwa and their allies. He knew that as Konoha's ally, his village… nay, the entire country of Wind, would be dragged into this war sooner or later. And if he didn't help Konoha, there would be hell to pay later, whether or not Konoha won.

So, he knew he had to involve his country in the war, and he also knew which side he would pick. In the end, the only question was if he could stomach sending his village to war.

Did he even have the right to ask himself that question? With everything he had done to his youngest child? To his other children?

There was no doubt about it. Rasa grabbed his quill and a scroll, writing his response to Konoha and its allies. Suna would join the war, and they would hold nothing back.

Now to convince the Wind Daimyo that this was the only course of action left to take.

….

Gaara walked through the deserted Suna street, face void of emotion.

He hadn't always been like this. In fact, only recently he had been an average child.

Well, an average child with a natural sand protection that tended to kill those who got too close to him. But a normal child all the same. He wanted to make friends like any other, enjoyed warm meals, his favorite currently being Dango, and played make believe.

That all came to an end when his uncle betrayed him, attempting to kill him under the orders of his own father. That was only a year ago, and he had not been the same since.

Gaara had resolved to himself since that moment long ago, that if he was cursed to have no one love him, then he would love himself, and he would validate his own existence. If the villagers wanted to ignore him, he would make sure they paid attention to them.

It was only natural that after so many years of being alone, of being ignored and abused, with many attempts on his life, he would cling to any source of love and comfort he was given. At first, that love was provided by his uncle. But when he had been betrayed, he had no one else to turn to.

No one but the voice in his head, calling itself mother. He would do anything for his mother. He did not want her to leave him too.

He could feel her desire growing within him, but the empty streets around him showed no signs of the blood she craved. He would have to find something to sate her blood-lust soon.

A presence made itself known across the street on the rooftops. It was one of his father's Shinobi. Gaara's sand began swishing along the streets, lazily making its way toward the house the man perched on.

"Gaara. Lord Kazekage wishes to have a word with you."

The man's voice was level and face stoic, but Gaara could smell the man's fear. It was such a clear and strong smell. He almost wished the man wearing the Kage hat would let mother have her fun. But alas.

Gaara's savage grin melted back into its void, and he straightened himself. The sand along the street and floating in the air dropped lifelessly, and Gaara turned toward the Kazekage's office.

"I shall be there shortly."

The Jonin shivered as he watched the eight year old walk lazily away. Years of service and fighting, and yet he had never felt anyone capable of as much blood-lust as this kid. It really unnerved him.

….….….

"You wished to see me?"

Rasa continued writing in the scroll, not bothering to meet his son's gaze. "I am going to be sending you with the first deployment of troops to clear out our borders. I will be having a meeting with my Jonin, but know that we will be ridding our country of the enemies currently taking our land."

Gaara's face remained aloof, but Rasa heard his teeth grinding against each other. "Why are you telling me this? It isn't like I can deny your orders."

"I am telling you because I will be laying out ground rules for you to follow while you are out of the village."

Gaara nodded slowly, listening to the man.

"You will not kill anyone wearing a Suna headband or affiliated with Suna in any way. You will similarly not kill any of Suna's allies, such as the Daimyo's troops or Konoha shinobi and their allies. We will be in war soon, and we will need every capable warrior we can get."

"Mother will not be denied blood." Gaara's words were spoken as if discussing the weather, and not filled with the amount of blood-lust they actually were.

"You will curb your 'mother's' thirst for blood until such a time as its thirst calls for it. Do I make myself clear?"

Gaara nodded, seemingly detached and uncaring.

"Good. I have assigned Baki to watch over you during your time outside the village. He will be reporting everything about everything you do, and the moment I learn you violated any of my conditions I will recall you immediately. Is that understood?"

"Hai, Kazekage-Sama."

"Good. you are dismissed."

The young redhead turned to leave, bits of sand trailing after him.

"Oh, and Gaara."

Rasa waited until Gaara turned to him before continuing. "If Baki dies I will be pressed to assume you killed him. Don't let that happen."

Gaara turned left, and Rasa was alone again.

The Kazekage sighed. At least this way he'd be trying to protect someone other than himself, even if his heart wasn't in it.

He only hoped that over time he would grow to care about protecting others, instead of just killing them.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Blast this Suna heat!" Tagawa Ichirou groaned as he shielded his eyes with his hand. He hated the desert, and preferred the weather of his homeland of Iwa.

But it wasn't like complaining was helping him any. He was far from any position of power, stuck solidly at Chunin rank and far from the top of the totem pole.

Ichirou didn't even have any family relations in power, his parents being civilians and his older brother, Jirou, also a Chunin. (His parents were trolls, don't ask.)

So yeah, his complaints would never be heard, never mind his request for transfers.

"Ichirou! Get your lazy ass up and help us move this equipment! We'll be setting out as soon as the sun reaches low enough to start cooling."

"Yeah yeah, I'm on it!" he grunted, standing up from his seated position. He left the cool shade of the stone house and into the sandy streets.

The town his company was currently in had been taken over by an earlier wave of troops in an operation that secured a supply line for the front-lines. His division was charged with the protection of a supply caravan, loaded with munitions and fresh grunts. Once on the front lines, his company was supposed to cycle out with one of the companies currently in deployment.

Probably a decision made by the higher ups or the Tsuchikage in an attempt to keep their troops fresh. Ichirou didn't really understand why though, experts were projecting that Konoha would fall within a few months at the longest. There was no way they could stand alone against Iwa and the other hidden villages, if the Tsuchikage's talks with them panned out.

He hoped so, he was already tired of fighting. But that was probably his laziness talking.

Ichirou reached his destination, a manger that had been converted into a storage shed to keep sand out of the perishables. He gripped one of the boxes, grunting at the sheer weight of it.

He struggled all the way to the wagon, dropping it loudly onto the bed of wood, before wiping the sweat away with his arm.

"Oh, quit exaggerating, they aren't that heavy."

Ichirou turned to face the voice of his longtime friend, Toshiko.

"I'm warm blooded woman! What do you expect? For me to love the heat?"

She rolled her eyes. "We're ALL warm blooded. We're mammals."

"So? I still can't stand the heat!"

She sighed, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "Whatever you say Toshirou."

"I'm serious! How can the sand-feet even live here?"

"They probably wonder the same about those living in Iwa. you don't hear them complaining."

"I don't hear them because they aren't here."

"And you better be glad about that, instead of complaining so loudly they'll be drawn here by your loud complaining."

Ichirou rolled his eyes. "Har-dee-har-har. You're so funny."

Toshiko grinned, setting down her pile of crates. "If you don't hurry up and pick up the pace, you'll be chewed out by the jonin in charge. You wouldn't want to have to spend dinner doing drills would you?"

Ichirou groaned, turning away from his friend. "Don't remind me."

He groaned more at her chuckles, eyes staring out into the horizon. He squinted, was something there?

"Hey, Ichirou, you OK?"

"I think there's something out there."

It's probably a mirage. Kami knows how many of the recruits wandered away from the caravan the first time the advance party saw them."

"I don't think so. See, look there." he pointed the direction out, making Toshiko look as well.

She stared at the sandy cloud approaching them fast, narrowing her eyes. "Sandstorm. Better let the Jonin know, don't think we'll be able to set out until it passes."

Ichirou nodded, turning to let his friend talk to the jonin. Meanwhile, he'd go around and alert the other's.

"Hey! Sandstorm incoming, clothes covering faces and goggles over eyes, just like we practiced people!"

Around the small village, Iwa shinobi and Earth troops paused in their work to cover their faces with cloth and their eyes with goggles. Then they got to work, covering perishables with tarp and putting others inside cover.

The sand started pelting the sides of the buildings within a few minutes after that, and soon visibility was down to barely a foot or two in front of their faces. Nonetheless, they continued their duties. Even if the sandstorm rolled in, the storm only postponed their deployment, and it would not be indefinite.

Ichirou struggled through the buffering winds, aiming for the cover of the building the jonin had repurposed into a bar. Toshiko would have already reported the situation to the jonin, and he was curious as to why she hadn't returned.

"Probably drinking." he grumbled to himself.

Dark patches of sand began flickering past him, and Ichirou's eyes narrowed. Looks like the storm was getting worse. Better get to the bar soon.

He could see the dark silhouette of the building rising up in front of him, and his step quickened. He was almost there.

He heard muffled screaming and froze. Were they under attack?

"Who's there! Show yourself!"

Nothing answered but the screaming wind.

He nervously stepped forward, eying a silhouette forming in the sand.

"Toshiko? That you?"

It was. Keyword, Was.

Tears brimmed his eyes as he stared at the mutilated corpse of his best friend. He turned and ran. "Attack! We're being attacked!"

He only took a single step more before something snagged his foot. He collapsed onto the ground, twisting his ankle horribly. He gasped.

Ichirou turned to look at his ankle, eying what had been wrapped around him. "Sand?"

"Mother wants your blood."

Ichirou looked up, eying a form that would be in his nightmares for the rest of his life.

A young redhead, bathed in blood. His eyes were wide and deranged, and his smile was wide and crazy.

Ichirou didn't even get the chance to say anything before he was smothered in sand, his vision blacking out before a sharp stab of pain ended his life.

______________________________________________________________

Gaara breathed the clean, dust-free air, walking along the newly reclaimed village. The Suna shinobi he worked with quickly stepped out of his path, but he paid them no mind. He had given mother enough blood for now, besides, his father's orders were clear.

He walked up to Baki, who was currently doing inventory of all the acquired supplies.

"Western side of the village is cleared out."

Baki turned to look at the Jinjuriki, eyes gazing at his form critically. "Can you do something about all that?"

Gaara turned to look at his form, noting that the blood soaked all the sand of his sand armor. "Mother Loves blood."

"And I don't. Besides, its unnerving the troops, and we can't risk going into a fight with low morale."

Gaara nodded, resigned. The sand surrounding his form crumpled and fell, replacing itself with clean sand. "Better?"

Baki nodded, satisfied. "Better. We won't need you to kill anything for a little while. Is there anything you can do to keep calm until we need you again?"

"I can go into the desert and meditate with the sand."

"Then do it. I will come for you when we set out."

Gaara turned and walked out of the village. Mother loved blood. But she would accept it if he took time to play with her sand."

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hiruzen breathed a sigh of relief, putting the open scroll down onto his desk. Suna had joined the war at last. Konoha was no longer outnumbered.

Now to sabotage Iwa's talks with the other hidden villages. It was probably an impossible task to keep all the other villages out of the war, but Hiruzen would settle for just keeping one of them out for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap for Chapter 13.
> 
> Again, as always, feedback is welcome, and if you liked the chapter, please follow/like. you're enjoyment of the story really helps keep me writing.
> 
> anyway, now that that's taken care of, i can just relax and talk to you guys for a bit.
> 
> I think that the level of absolute panic around my area is ridiculous. the closest case we have for covid-19 is over 100 miles away, and that was a single case that was caught quickly and taken care of. on top of that, everything is already quarantined.
> 
> and yet we have people panic buying toilet paper and food for MONTHS to even YEARS worth of supplies when this this is clearly not gonna last long with how careful this country is being. there is no reason you need THAT much toilet paper people. that just really annoys me, because we only have enough for maybe a week because panic buyers bought it all! seriously? what are we supposed to use, Sandpaper?
> 
> I apologize to you readers, for ranting, but things like that both astound me and make me want to bang my head against a wall. why can't people be a bit more courteous to others.
> 
> anyway, so my school's switching to online mode, and now I've got to figure out how to do school when I can't really afford Photoshop. Probably will sign up for free trials until this quarantine is lifted.
> 
> anyway, enough ranting from me. How are you all doing? having a nice day? keeping healthy and all that? remember to wash your hands please.
> 
> finally, before I log off, I'll ask a quick question. someone asked me recently-sh if I planned to have pairings. I responded to them that at the time there were no pairings planned.
> 
> and then I got to thinking, and I have an idea that could work really well, and I figured I would extend the question to you, my readers.
> 
> Do you want Naruto to stay single for the entirety of the fic, or would you like to see Naruto and Gaara get together? now, before you answer, know that any pairing will most likely not be seen for a while. I want to keep this fic clean to a certain extent, and I don't particularly like serious stories having random smut scenes for the sake of smut. neither do I like underage kids going at it. so, any pairings you see in this fic, and probably any others, will not really have any sex scenes to go with them, neither will they immediately get together. you're probably looking at some light feelings around Chunin exam ages and then more serious feelings during shippuden era.
> 
> That being said, I'd like to see your opinions. and if you all really want, i'll try figuring out how to open a poll and letting that work it's magic.
> 
> Thank you for reading, have a wonderful night, and please stay healthy!


	14. Episode 14: Stalemate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Konoha and Iwa's forces have been officially fighting for two years now. and now, the war is growing stale, both sides are just waiting for the other to give up. both sides are waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
> 
> meanwhile, the team learns a bit more about each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, I'm still alive!
> 
> I'm going to take a moment to apologize for the three weeks it took me to actually write anything. The whole virus thing shutting everything down kind of screwed everything over for me. What with online teachers thinking it's funny assigning me work on days I'm not supposed to be on school, not being able to get the time and energy to sit down and write, and other things going on really screwed me over.
> 
> It got to the point that I just told myself to sit down and write, even if I didn't feel like it.
> 
> So if this chapter feels a little stiff or uninspired I apologize. I did try my best to make the chapter flow like the others, but know that this chapter doesn't have as much action as the others. This one is mainly focusing on building character interactions and relationships.
> 
> Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy the 4,000+ words I was able to write down. Hope it satisfies you.

“The heart is easily exploitable. No matter how much you love someone, no matter how much you show you care, there is no guarantee the ones you care for will have the same feelings for you.

A true shinobi knows, just like with any other weapon, to utilize this to the fullest. A true shinobi will be able to not only know a hundred different ways to assasination their target, but also know 50 ways to manipulate their target at least.

ARE yOu wIlLinG To bE A trUe SHinObi?”

———————

Jiraiya stared at the dark storm clouds that blocked out the sky with disapproval. The rain made it difficult to stare for long, what with drops of rain landing in his eye every few seconds. 

Correction, it made it difficult to do anything. It created mud, overflowed the trenches around them, made them all cold and wet, reduced visibility, and just plain out sucked.

Which was probably why Iwa decides it would be a good time for their allies and themselves to push on this front.

Explosions sounded around him as both sides fought to a standstill, Iwa kept pushing, and Konoha wasn’t giving. Not without a fight.

Well then, it was about time he turned the tide of this battle and sent Iwa running.

He jumped down from the cliffside the Land of Fire’s forces were using as overwatch, sliding down the muddy wall of the cliff and landing solidly among his allies. .

He immediately got to work rallying the troops. “Reinforce the left trench side! I want the fresh troops to head directly to the trenches where Iwa is hitting the hardest! I want a team of the most experienced jonin we have here, I have an assignment for them!”

The Allies scrambled to follow his orders in a blur of movement. Three shinobi landed in front of Jiraiya merely seconds later

Jiraiya wasted no time. “I need you three to target the enemy trenches. Use explosion tags, AOE jutsu, anything, just draw their attention and disrupt their focused efforts to dig tunnels connecting our trench lines with theirs. Go!”

The shinobi jumped away, already mentally prepared to do their job.

Jiraiya led the efforts of the rest of the troops, repelling any troops that made their way into the trenches.

A call began to sound out from the far side of the trench lines. The call was carried across the trench, stopping the hearts of those who heard it and filling them with dread.

“Jinjuriki!”

The Toad-Sannin grimaced, hands flying through hand signs. He slammed his hands down onto the ground, a puff of smoke emerging around him.

“Summoning jutsu!” 

Two small weights landed on his shoulders, and he let out the breath he was holding. They had answered.

“What’s going on, Jiraiya-Boy?” Pa’s sharp eyes roamed over the battlefield, taking in the details.

“Jinjuriki. From Iwa I assume.”

To their credit, the two toad masters did not gasp, but rather nodded. Wordlessly performing hand signs until they began gathering natural chakra.

Jiraiya’s eyes roamed the battlefield, searching out the jinjuriki who would be his adversary. No one else in these trenches would be able to stand up to a jinjuriki. Only he could.

His eyes narrowed, staring suspiciously at a shadow forming through the dense rain.

He suddenly jumped forward, sparks flying as metal met metal. His kunai meeting the kunai of a stranger.

They hopped away.

Jiraiya studied his opponent, and he was sure his opponent was doing the same.

“Jiraiya of the Sannin. It’s a surprise to see you here.”

“Shouldn’t be, really.” Jiraiya shrugged. “Hokage-sama stationed next here especially because of you. You and your… friend, jinjuriki-san.” He smirked.

“Han isn’t my friend Sannin. We are merely allies.” The man lifted his bearded face to look right at Jiraiya.

“Well…Rōshi, jinjuriki of the four tails.” Jiraiya chuckled. “It’s always important to get to know your allies. You can’t trust your allies if they are literal strangers now can you?”

Rōshi let out a non-committed grunt.

The two circled each other, before Rōshi suddenly perked up. Jiraiya stiffened.

From the enemy trenches, jiraiya could hear a horn playing a long, solid, single note. Rōshi grimaced.

“It appears our fight will have to be postponed Sannin.”

Before Jiraiya could even protest, the bearded Jinjuriki hopped away, leaving Jiraiya alone in the pouring rain.

And then suddenly it was over, and yet there was no cheering. No cries of victory or calls for retreat. 

Just silence as the enemy retreated.

Jiraiya wrinkled his face with distaste. It had been this way for months now, with Iwa and their allies sending out small invasion parties to test their trench lines. Most times they only fought for a few moments before retreating.

Those other times were full scale invasions, with Iwa and their allies throwing everything they had into Konoha’s and their allies trenches. It usually ended with the Allies falling back, and Iwa’s forces advancing.

It had been that way for months.

Which was why Jiraiya had been deployed there. And so far, Iwa has not gained any new ground.

Jiraiya only prayed it stayed that way.

——————————————

Naruto focused on her task, face scrunched with intense concentration and hands moving with the greatest of precision. She would not screw this up. This important task that so much was riding on. She could not fail.

She slid the metal piece out of its place, dragging it back carefully and into her hand. She drew back carefully, her other hand wrapping around the object of her mission. Careful to not screw up, she wiped her objective with the towel.

“Like this sergeant?” She lifted the rifle for him to inspect, hands and face dirty with oil.

The sergeant walked over from where he was supervising the other soldiers to inspect her work. He looked the rifle over critically, turning the rifle and eying every inch of it. Finally, he smiled.

“You did a very good job maintaining this rifle. In fact, it looks almost brand new!”

Naruto beamed at her success. “Then this lesson is complete? I can move on to the next lesson?”

The man laughed awkwardly, rubbing his neck. “There are no more lessons. You’ve learned everything there is to know about using and maintaining a rifle of this make...everything I know about using and maintaining one at least. I’d say the only thing you need to do is improve your reloading time and keep up with your aim and you’re golden!”

“But there are so many pieces…” Naruto looked down at the rifle doubtfully.

The man ruffled her hair. “Let me give you some advice kid. No matter how complicated a task is, whether it’s something like following a recipe or maintaining top of the line weaponry, if you stick with it, you’ll eventually get it down. To the point where you can perform that task with a blindfold, if need be. Perfect practice makes perfect performance.”

Naruto tilted her head. “Perfect practice…”

“Ah, Naruto! There you are!”

Naruto looked up at Noda’s voice, seeing the woman walking towards the artillery cannon she was sitting on.

“Noda…”

“Kakashi-Taicho wants to see the team.”

Naruto nodded, standing up from where she was sitting. She bowed politely to the sergeant. “Thank you for the lessons!”

“Anytime kid. Just try not to go anywhere too dangerous ok?”

Naruto nodded, turning and following after Noda.

———

Noda walked back the direction she came, her young teammate trailing behind her. 

Years of Anbu work made it easy to overhear the footsoldier as they walked away. 

“You seemed awfully willing to help out the little shinobi Sargeant. I thought you hated working with recruits?”

“She doesn’t really qualify as a recruit now, does she corporal?

“Still. I didn’t peg you as someone’s home would go out of their way to help other people.”

“I’m not.” The sergeant sighed. “have a daughter back home roughly that girl’s age. I can’t help but imagine my daughter stuck in this hell whenever I look at her… what was Konoha thinking?”

Their conversation faded away as Noda and Naruto left the range of hearing, turning into the labyrinth of trench line leading all the way back towards the frontlines command. As they walked, Noda couldn’t get the conversation out of her head.

She looked toward the young blonde, who walked obliviously by her side. She hadn’t heard the conversation then.

‘How would sensei react if she found out about Konoha treating Naruto this way?’ Noda shook her head.

Her sensei has been dead for years. The woman who practically raised her, and who had advocated so hard against young enlistment. She knew exactly how she would have reacted.

She shook herself of her thoughts, turning toward her young teammate. “Soo. I see you’ve been learning how to use the guns the foot soldiers use.”

Naruto startles, turning her attention to Noda with eyes wide. “Is that wrong?”

“No, not at all. I was just curious what made you want to.”

Naruto shrugged her shoulders. “Taicho says that shinobi have to adapt to their environment. I just thought that learning how to use different weapons was part of that.”

Noda smirked, amused. “I don’t think Taicho meant that you had to use the newest weapon available.sometimes those weapons are only around for a few years before they become useless.”

Naruto looked conflicted. She seemed to think for a moment, before shrugging again.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter which weapons or techniques you use. The only thing that matters in the end is making sure you keep learning new things. That’s how shinobi survive.”

Naruto looked down at the floor of the trench in thought. 

A few moments later, Noda sighed. “Ok, what’s wrong?”

“What?” Naruto turned her attention to the older female.

“You’re all mopey. We all know I don’t like it when people get mopey, so I have to cheer them up or else I get all mopey. So spill, what’s on your mind?”

Naruto hesitated for a second. “I’m a bad person.”

Noda stopped them both, pulling Naruto into an empty side tunnel to get out of the way of the path. She then knelt down to eye level with Naruto. “What makes you think that?”

“I killed those soldiers. Killing is bad.”

“Oh kiddo…” Noda sighed. “You remember the last time we talked about this? Remember what we said?”

“But those were shinobi who attacked us. They killed so many innocent people, and chased us for miles just to hurt us. These people had families, homes they had to go back to. They were only doing what they were told to!”

‘So were you kiddo.’ Noda sighed. She had no idea how to comfort a young girl being forced to fight in a war. Even so, she’d try. She pulled Naruto into a hug. “Sometimes, people are forced to do bad things in order to protect the ones they love. That doesn’t make them bad. They only become bad when they start doing those bad things for selfish reasons.”

She rubbed Naruto’s back, trying to convey as much comfort as she possibly could. As such, she could hear Naruto’s words, even if they weren’t meant to be heard.

“I’m scared of having to kill again.”

Noda’s heart sunk. Such a young age and already being forced in a position like this. She stayed silent a moment, trying to figure out how best to respond. “I understand that it hurts. But that feeling right there, that’s how you tell your still good. You should never want to kill anyone, even if circumstances make you.”

The two were quiet for a while, Noda offering hushed whispers of comfort. Finally they pulled away. “Do you want to be distracted for a bit? Sometimes it helps to not think about things for a while.”

Naruto nodded.

“Ok!” Noda clapped her hands. “We still have plenty of time, so after we meet with Taicho, how about we do some light training. I’ve also got plenty of scrolls, and I also have some books in case you don’t feel like doing anything related to training today. I’ve also got some cards we could play, or we could just spend some girl time away from the boys. You can choose whatever you want, and we can do it for the rest of the day!”

Noda looked at Naruto, before adding. “Of course, you don’t have to choose anything now. We can always wait until after we see Taicho to decide anything.”

Naruto nodded at that. 

“Ok! Let’s go see Taicho then! I wonder if he picked up any more reading material from the ressupply?

——-

Kakashi was looking at his little orange book, idly turning the pages at seemingly random moments. Anyone who knows of him assumed he was reading his smut again.

Those who know him knew that he was actually scanning the horizon for threats.

And those who knew him really really knew him, knew that his eyes were only scanning the horizon because he had already read the series front to back numerous times already, and had grown bored of rereading the book again. Of course, those who knew this also knew that he was the biggest fan of Icha Icha, and was only waiting for the drop of a new book before he would become disgustingly engrossed with it.

Kakashi was just bored. He had actually finished rereading the book again and was idly flipping through the care worn pages to study some of the illustrations again. Not many of the Icha Icha books had them, but if you were a collector, like him, you knew that some of the issues had a few rare books that had illustrations in them. Speculation was that the deal between the toad sannin and an illustrator went bad a quarter way into the project. Jiraiya was left with only a few illustrations, and decided the book didn’t really need them, but also decided to leave a few as a kind of collectors item.

As he looked through the illustrations, Kakashi mused over the state of the war. For the last few months neither side had gained any ground. Both sides had dug in to protect themselves from the deadly new weapons, and now the war had turned into some sort of waiting game. If nothing happened within the next couple of months, Kakashi wouldn’t be surprised if the other side sued for peace, if only to try their hand at assasination the Hokage and Daimyo of Fire country.

But for now, the soldiers of the front were gaining a nice little break, even if they had some runs every now and again.

He snapped his book closed, stepping down from the raised ‘observation post’ (which was nothing more than a depression in the trench wall that was slightly higher than the regular trench floor. It was used to allow soldiers to see over the trench wall, without exposing themselves by climbing over.)

He turned and walked over to one of the wagons from the supply caravan. The men of his team stood there patiently. All that was left to do was wait for the girls to show up.

They didn’t have to wait very long. The two of them emerged from the labyrinth of trenches, quickly approaching the wagon themselves. 

“Sorry we’re late, Naruto was in the middle of being taught about the rifles, I couldn’t find the right moment to pull her away.” Noda scratched the back of her head bashfully.

Kakashi waved her off. “It’s no big deal. This wasn’t exactly an important meeting anyway.” 

All the shinobi on the team also knew that he himself was constantly late to events without high importance. They all inwardly shrugged and moved on.

“Anyway…” Kakashi flapped his hands cheerfully, eyes smiling. “We’ve been tasked a few jobs that I’m going to be dishing out individually. Nothing too important, just some things that help the trenches day to day lives run a little smoother:”

“Itachi, you and I have the sharpest eyesight. The two of us will be helping to unload the wagons. Our main goal is to prevent people taking from the rations without permission. We shouldn’t run into too much trouble, the men of the trenches understand not to be greedy, but it’s still important to prevent a few of the worse men from trying.”

“Tano, there’s a bag of scrolls here that need to be taken to the command bunker. Nothing difficult, really, but you’ll have to stay to ensure the commanders receive the scrolls properly.”

“The only other job left would be the mail. Noda, Naruto and Kenta, you three will disperse the mail to the men at your discretion.”

Kakashi waves to them. “That’s all for today. The other Anbu team is on duty from now until early tomorrow, so be sure to get some rest before our shift. We’ll be meeting by the usual spot to divide up our duties then.”

———

Naruto carried one of the lighter bags as she followed after her two older teammates. They had already dispersed most of the mail just by standing in one place and allowing the men to come to them. All that was left was too give the men on duty their mail and the three would be free to turn in. 

As she watched the two older shinobi hand out letters, a strange feeling took over. It felt dirty, she wasn’t even sure she should be feeling this way.

She wished she had someone to write her too. 

We’re the letters the men were receiving from friends? Family? What kind of news did the written words convey? What was one supposed to feel when reading a letter? So many questions.

Not enough answers.

She dropped out of her musings when Kenta let out a strange, happy sound.

“Letter from home?” Noda smiled softly.

“Sorry, sorry. Wasn’t really expecting a letter until sometime next week. Would you mind?”

“Go read the letter you big oaf.” Noda smirked, taking the bag he was carrying.

Kenta walked several steps away to have privacy while reading the letter. 

The two woman continued handing letters out, until the bags were empty. Finally, Kenta returned.

“Sorry if it took a while. They sent me quite. A few pages to read through.” Even as he said that, his face was lit with happiness.

“What was in the letter?” Naruto asked, eyes filled with curiosity.

“W-well…” Kenta laughed nervously.

“Was I not supposed to ask that?” Naruto drew back with embarrassment. 

“No, that’s not it. I’m just surprised you asked.” Kenta laughed. “I guess I’m willing to talk about it. Let’s just finish with the mail first.

Naruto nodded with understanding.

“Nevermind that! How is everything back home?” Noda questioned, smirking.

Kenta smirked himself. “Not until we finish passing all the mail out.”

“Ah-ha! That’s where you’re wrong!” Noda pointed dramatically. “Naru-Chan and I already passed out the mail while you were slacking off!”

Kenta looked through the mail, pulling out one last letter. “No you aren’t, Itachi still hasn’t gotten his letter!” He pointed at the letter in his hand.

Noda waved him off. “We have to go back to the wagon to give that to Itachi. You’ll have plenty of time to tell us while we walk!”

Kenta sighed, shaking his head with amusement. “I guess I can talk about it.”

Naruto drew closer with curiosity, and from the corner of her eye could see Noda do the same.

“My nephew turned six just a few months ago. My sister was going on and on about his education and his friend group. He and his friends are already causing all sorts of trouble, as an uncle I’m kind of proud with how much trouble he’s gotten into. They got a pet cat recently, a little stray my nephew found in the alley. Poor thing hadn’t seemed to have had a proper meal in weeks. So now I’ll have a new family member to meet when we get home. My sister was planning on re-planting the entire garden. She’s gotten tired of just having flowers and wants to try her hand at growing some vegetables. Of course, the rationing will make it hard to come by the proper seeds she wants to try. I should recommend going to the Yamanaka’s. They are experts at gardening. Besides, Hokage-sama will be glad that the citizens are trying to lighten the load that the village has to carry by providing their own vegetables. Of course, I’m sure that they’ll fall back on the rations if things get too difficult, but the options are there…”

As Kenta rambled on about his family back home, Naruto listened with rapt attention. She soaked in everything about Kenya’s personal life with absolute fascination. Everything from family dynamics to views of politics. She’d never known what having a family was really like, as an orphan she could only dream.

Maybe her dreams would be a little more realistic.

“It sounds like everything is going well.” Noda smiled.

“It is, sorry if I rambled. I get excited when I think about my family.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s only natural.”

Naruo decided to voice her own question, the one that was burning at the tip of her tongue.

“Do you have any kids Kenta-senpai?”

He shook his head sadly. “No, I can’t have kids. Doctor said it happens every now and again in our family history.”

They walked in silence for a few seconds, before Naruto turned to Noda.

“Did you get any letters Noda senpai?”

The older woman shook her head. “I don’t have any family back home. That’s ok though, because everyone I care about is right here with me!”

“You don’t have family either?” Naruto’s eyes were wide.

“Well, I consider this team family. And Tano-Kun has his mom and dad, even if they don’t always get along, but I still consider them family.”

“So you don’t have a mom or dad?”

Noda shook her head, a sad smile on her face. “I’ve been an orphan since my genin years. I used to consider my sensei like a second mother.”

“What was she like?”

“Well, she was beautiful, with the reddest hair I’ve ever seen and the prettiest eyes. She was also really stubborn and had the scariest temper.” She shook her head. “It didn’t help that her verbal tick only made her anger hilarious to see.”

“Verbal tick? I used to have one of those.”

Noda turned to look at Naruto curiously. “Used to?”

Naruto nodded. “The orphanage lady made me work on it until I no longer said it all the time. The speech impedamant was distracting to the other children.”

Naruto was surprised at the raw anger she could see radiating off of Noda now. Luckily, the older girl was good at not taking her anger out on people who didn’t deserve it. 

Noda turned to Naruto, eyes softening at her expression. “You don’t need to worry about how you talk around us ok? You’re verbal tic doesn’t count as an impediment, and the lady who told you so can go to hell.”

“Noda.” Kenta shook his head disapprovingly. “Don’t day that kind of thing to a ten year old.” He turned to Naruto, smiling kindly. “If you want to, you can relax around us. Nobody here will judge you for your verbal tic.”

Naruto nodded happily, even as she flushed in embarrassment. She wasn’t used to talking about her tic to others. It felt weird to open up like that.

Even so, as she followed the two into the area where Kakashi and Itachi were watching over the wagon, she couldn’t help the massive smile and happy bounce in her step.

——-

Itachi has a soft smile as he read over the letter Sasuke and his mother sent him. His younger brother was complaining about the many love confessions the girls of his class had given him.

He would have to send his reply to him quickly. He would need to let his younger brother know that the daily amount of confessions would drop by the time he graduated, as many of the girls would be held from graduating.

Of course, he would tease him that if he just picked one, it’d all stop then.

He could practically see his brother turning tomato red and stammering on about how they would only distract him.

He could also see his brother groaning when he teased him about being the color of his favorite fruit/vegetable. (Little Sasuke was adamant that the tomato was a fruit. But Itachi loves tormenting Sasuke by calling it a vegetable. The kid would blow up in righteous anger. It was hilarious.)

Itachi carefully folded the letter and put it into his kunai pouch. He would find a better place for it later. For now he would enjoy the time with his team, who were gathering just a few feet from him.

“Now, what kind of spar are we going for? Are we doing jutsu? taijutsu? Kenjutsu? Are we playing tic tac toe and calling it sparring? How about a mental spar with some shogi?” Noda listed off as she did her stretches.

Naruto, who stood just to the right of Noda doing her own stretches, looked bewildered. “I thought we were just doing a regular task jutsu spar.”

“Well, I figured I’d ask and make sure. We can do whatever type of spar you feel you need the most work on.”

Naruto stopped to think for a second, hand on her lip. “I think a kenjutsu spar. My last sword broke even when it shouldn’t have, and I think it’s because the ninja I fought broke it with her chakra. I need to be able to counter weapon breaking jutsu so I don’t have to replace my weapon all the time.”

“That reminds me.” Kakashi turned up, face in book and long object in his other hand. “This came in today, a replacement for your other sword Naru-Chan.”

Naruto took the weapon out of Kakashi’s hand. “Thank you Taicho.”

“You’re welcome. Do be careful with it this time ne? I had this one specially made after all.”

“Taicho, I wasn’t the one who broke my sword! I told you it was the Iwa nin dattebane!”

The group stopped cold, looking at the youngest shinobi there with teasing grins. Said young shinobi was slowly turning red as she realized what she just uttered.

“Hey hey, look at little naru-Chan! She said her verbal tick!” Noda teased.

“So adorable!”

“Now now, lets all be nice. We don’t want her to stop being adorable now do we?”

“Taicho!”

Itachi smiled as he watched the youngest on his team be teased. As much as he enjoyed working at home, he wouldn’t want to be apart of any other team.

————

Danzo narrowed his eyes at the papers in front of him. Something was happening. Something he couldn’t let happen.

He thought he had already taken care of this, but the papers in front of him proved the opposite. Certain members of the village were being discreetly recalled, without his or the Hokage’s knowledge or permission.

Danzo was no fool. He knew what was about to happen.

The only question was, how much time did they have until it was too late to fix it? Diplomacy was out the window, they had never listened before. So that clearly only left one choice.

He would have to urge Hiruzen to recall Itachi Uchiha. He was, after all, the one with the most experience dealing with the Uchiha after all.

Now, how best to deal with the traitors within the clan. They couldn’t slaughter them all. No, Konoha was not in the position to do so now. 

So what to do?

He would have to talk to Hiruzen. As much as he disliked the thought, Hiruzen would know which call to make. Danzo’s normal go to response just wouldn’t cut it this time.

Besides, maybe he’d be able to use this against Hiruzen someday, tear down the man’s reputation by revealing it to be Hiruzen’s choice that doomed the Uchiha clan.

Well, it really just depended on what choice Hiruzen did make. He’d just have to wait and see.  
——

“The heart… our emotions, are easily manipulated and corrupted. Skilled orators sway audiences with words, and we are left conflicted.

How then, do shinobi protect themselves from an enemy’s lies, if our emotions are vulnerable to such simple things as words? We cannot stop listening, as doing so will disadvantage us. And we cannot hope to ignore the words. Doing so is. It so simple, because at some point we will listen.

So the only answer to protect yourself from the lies of the enemy, is to remove the emotions they seek to tamper with. That is what true shinobi do.

Because if emotions are what they seek to manipulate, the lack of emotions becomes an advantage that can unnerve your opponent, and give you an advantage. And shinobi are all about taking advantage of everything they can.

To not do so is a betrayal of everything shinobi are.”  
—————-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's that!
> 
> I was trying to go for a peaceful lull before things really pick up. I might have one more chapter before things actually start going down, but I think it will be a little less calm than this chapter.
> 
> I did try to give this chapter a mysterious/ creepy vibe with those quotes before and after the chapter.
> 
> Those quotes are based on some quote I found, but have been butchered into meaning something else to date my needs. Who's saying them?
> 
> Well, you'll find out. But it is important for the story.
> 
> Now, I at the start of the month I did star Nanowrimo, but with things being hilariously difficult this month I have fallen behind. From today on I'll be trying to catch up, and hopefully I'll be turning out a positive number of words.
> 
> What does this mean for you, dear reader?
> 
> Well, assuming I can actually sit down and write consistently each day, I should be able to write at least 900 words a day for this story alone. Given that most of these chapters are around 2,000 to 5,000 words on average, and that means I will hopefully be pumping out a few more chapters than normal.
> 
> Not only that, but I'll also be writing some other stories at the same time. So expect to see at least two new stories with a chapter or two each to their name by the end of the month. Again, we'll see if my teacher will a dick and keep assigning me work on days I shouldn't be on school, because that's what threw me off in the first place. I'll still do my best to write, but there's only so much you can write after a six hour session of panic drawing induced from work assigned last minute on day's that should have been free.
> 
> Am I salty, yes. Is it deserved? Probably.
> 
> Now, I hope you all have an awesome day today. Stay safe and healthy, and if you can take all the time you need to study this virus. Some things are being stretched to make this virus seem worse than it really is, but that doesn't mean we can get careless with it. So at least do some research, at least to protect yourselves the best way you can.
> 
> Have an awesome day.


	15. Episode 15 : Central Powers Unite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iwa gathers its allies. Meanwhile, the Uchiha plan behind the scenes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 15 : Central Powers Unite
> 
> Mwahahahaha
> 
> Hello everyone! I am presenting you another chapter for violet evergarden.
> 
> I've been giving the pairings some thought recently, and decided that whatever pairings I have won't be the main focus of the story. What I'll probably be doing is just hinting at the possibility of certain pairings (so basically one character might pine on the other).
> 
> If I still feel like doing pairings within this specific world, I could always do one shots/spinoffs.
> 
> One of the main reasons for this change of heart is because this story is based off of learning to be human again. And while a pairing can be considered part of that, I feel it would be in the best interests of the story to try and keep it subtle. (Again, I might change this again towards the end of the story.)
> 
> Either way, that won't be for years (storyline wise), so you don't have to worry about that for a while.
> 
> I also wanted to do some quick explaining about Danzo's character in this. He's a master at manipulation, and he wants to put everything under his thumb. So if he gains an interest in anyone, especially someone like Naruto, it's because he wants to use her for his goals, whether that be making her his weapon or whatever. If he comes off as creepy and conniving, it's cuz that's sort of what I was aiming for.
> 
> Lastly, this is gonna be another slowish chapter. I wanted to take a break from the fighting to show you all the political machinations that are driving the war, and influencing the countries. I'll be addressing the Daimyo's a bit more, as well as their relationships with their villages. Basically, it's a chapter that's going to set the groundwork for the rest of the story.
> 
> Thanks for reading this author's note. So here is the next chapter.
> 
> Please enjoy the story.

—

"Loyalty is an extreme state of being. You are either loyal or not loyal, there is no in between."

—

Ten year old Uchiha Sasuke walked through the streets on his way to school, hands in pockets and an irritated scowl on his face.

Normally, he would be much happier on a day like today. They had, after all, just received a letter back from his Nii-San. And everyone knew how much Sasuke adored his older brother.

Today, however, he was upset. Far more upset than he could ever remember being in his young life.

He scowled harder, kicking a rock and watching it fly, hitting a bucket that was on the railing of a nearby house down. The house's owner, who had been using the bucket to clean windows, cursed.

Sasuke walked past the mess, barely sparing it and the sputtering civilian a second glance.

That was, until he felt fists rapping on his head.

"Ouch!" Sasuke rubbed his sore head, glaring up at the perpetrator.

Izumi stood over him. the genin's arms were crossed, and she fixed him with an unimpressed stare.

"Izumi-nee"

"Don't Izuku-nee me. Apologize to the old man."

Sasuke turned. "I have to get to the academy now or I'll be late."

"Oh, no you don't!"

After dragging the moody pre-teen back and making him apologize, Izumi began escorting the young Uchiha.

The two walked in silence, passing through the early morning streets with ease.

Finally, Izumi could take no more angst. She pulled Sasuke to the side, away from the foot traffic of the village. She sat down, forcing Sasuke down with her.

"Hey, I'm going to be late!"

"The academy can wait until we've addressed what's bothering you."

"Nothing's bothering me!"

She fixed him with an unimpressed look. "So you always kick rocks at strangers?"

He tisked, turning his face away from her. She was spot on.

"Well?" Izumi tilted her head in an effort to look him in the eyes. "What's wrong?"

She had to wait for a minute as Sasuke debates telling her.

Finally, he opened his mouth. "I hate the academy."

"That's it? Everyone hates the academy."

"Not everyone is skilled enough to graduate early." He growled.

"Ah, so that's what this is all about. You wanted to graduate early and can't." Izumi clarified.

"They didn't even let me try the test! They just told me that I had to wait until the last academic year before being allowed to try. That's in three years! That's too long… how am I going to help Nii-san beat the war if I won't be able to enter it before it's over?"

Izumi nodded, sympathetic. She knew exactly what he was going through. "Well, what would Itachi say about this?"

"He'd tell time there are reasons I can't graduate, and that I should focus on the academy more." Sasuke sulked.

Izumi sighed. "Well, Itachi probably only wants to protect you." She paused, thinking how to best approach this. "If you think about it, you'll actually benefit from the extra years of academy. You'll have a lot more time to practice everything you know until then. By the time you graduate, you could probably be the most skilled shinobi of your age group!"

"I already am the most skilled of my age group!" He seemed to remember something. "At the academy anyway. Besides, how am I supposed to help Itachi if I can't be a genin now?"

Izumi shook her head with amusement. "Well, even if you became a genin today you probably wouldn't see much fighting."

"What?"

"The genin are being used mostly as messengers and logistics. Some teams may be used for scouting or as field medics, but those are rare cases."

Sasuke curled his lips in disgust. "Why? That seems unnecessary."

"It actually is necessary. The Hokage put the system in place to preserve the younger generation of shinobi. We're only able to use this strategy because this war isn't just between the shinobi villages, which means the bulk of the fighting isn't being done by Konoha."

"So then we aren't on the battlefield?"

"We are. Just not as many in one spot as say, ordinary foot soldiers provided by the daimyo."

Sasuke sulked, reflecting on the information Izumi presented him. "Then why am I seeing more and more Uchiha in the compound? If the village is at war and the shinobi really are fighting, why isn't our clan fighting too? I'd the clan being excluded from this too?"

The young woman sighed heavily, standing back up. "Come on, You'll be late for the academy. You can interrogate me after school."

Sasuke huffed, accepting her hand. "It's your fault. You're the one who stopped me. Twice."

Izumi looked at him sharply. "What was that?"

"Nothing!" The ten year old avoided her gaze and started walking.

"That's right!"

—

Danzo walked through the Hokage's tower halls, pace steady and decisive. His destination was the Hokage's office.

He had deliberated the best possible way to reach his goal with the Uchiha problem, and after hours of thought had decided it best to be blunt. Hiruzen would be able to smell a scheme from a mile off, and while Danzo could easily take care of the clan, it would not lead to the results he wanted. In order for his plans to come to fruition, Hiruzen needed to be the one giving the order.

Which was why he now stood in front of his door, the Hokage's secretary clearing his visit with the Hokage himself.

It didn't take long before he was escorted in, and just as quickly left seemingly alone with him.

"hokage sama" Danzo greeted, his tone of voice disguising the lack of respect he had for the man in the position.

"Danzo. What brings you to my office today." Hiruzen folded his hands and leant forward, his attention away from the maps and reports on his desk.

"I would continue to exchange pleasantries, Hiruzen, but I'm afraid we simply don't have the time." Danzo replied as he pulled out a stack of photographs. "I'm sure you've heard of the Uchiha." He placed them on the desk, moving back to the edge of the room. There, he pulled a chair out, dragging it towards the Kage desk, where he proceeded to sit down.

During this time, Hiruzen took a moment to look through the pictures, each capturing the dark colors and fan tradition of a member of the Uchiha. "I know that members of the clan are steadily making their way back into the village, yes. What of it?"

"What are you going to do about it?"

Hiruzen sighed. "I am already taking care of it through the standard procedures Danzo."

Danzo's eyes narrowed. "Court martials and death penalties aren't going to cut it here village is in the middle of a war, and the Uchiha clan is bearing down to overthrow everyone in a position of power. They will open the gates to our destruction, and we will be too busy rotting in our graves to watch as Iwa and their allies storm through the streets, butchering the citizens of our village!"

Hiruzen stood slowly, hands on his desk and quivering with rage. "And what would you have me do?"

"The answer is simple. We get rid of the Uchiha. If we do not, we will be fighting a war both on the battlefield of foreign lands as well as the battlefield that will be our home."

Suddenly, Danzo was slammed into the wall. He hadn't expected the elderly Sarutobi to be so fast still, one moment he had been standing with hands on his desk, the next they were both clear across the room, with Hiruzen holding Danzo by the neck of his clothes.

"Are you stupid?!" Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village spat. "The outcome of such a situation is the exact same as a civil war!"

Hiruzen released Danzo, who began straightening his clothes. Even so, he continued to fix Danzo with a fierce glare. "Do you forget just how important the Uchiha are? Forget their History or Political power, they are one of the largest clans in the entirety of the village. They alone make up 12% of our total fighting force, and 50% of our military police. The last thing we need is to have a gaping hole gorged into our defenses by our own hand. And that's not even mentioning the amount of respect and fear a single Uchiha commands on the battlefield. O village or nation would take us seriously if they heard we'd killed them all!"

Danzo watched as Hiruzen calmed himself, sneering. "Then you would watch as they rebel? Will you hand them the Hokage hat willingly?"

Hiruzen grit his teeth. "I am handling it Danzo. I would appreciate it very much if you wouldn't come barging into my office everything a make a Kami-damned decision!"

Hiruzen fixed himself, walking back to his desk and sitting down at his desk. "You are dismissed." He waved his hand.

Danzo grit his teeth, twisting his body around and practically fleeing.

"One more thing, Danzo." The crippled man froze, hand still ready to turn the doorknob. He turned to face the Hokage.

Hiruzen fixes him with a deadly glare. "I've already given you a warning, and you certainly love toeing the line. However, since I am a fair judge, and seeing as you haven't broken a law yet. I will allow this last incident to slide, and consider your words as the ill advice they are. However, know that this is your true and final warning. Do not cross me again."

Danzo stormed out of the room, schooling his expression into cool professionalism. But inside, he was still seething, and humiliated.

Hiruzen had to go.

Unfortunately, his plans to take care of that would not be able to come to fruition as soon as he'd hoped. And one of the damning pieces of evidence he wanted to use against the man had been denied horribly.

No matter. He was good at improvising. And also at forging documents, as it so happened.

—

Killer-B followed his brother, the Fourth Raikage, and the rest of their entourage down the rocky mountain roads. They had been invited to this remote Iwa base, in an attempt to foster good relations and possibly treaties. Iwa wanted to snatch up allies, and killer-b figures it was mainly because they didn't want Konoha getting any.

He wasn't exactly sure about Kirigakure, but he knew that some Konoha negotiators had been visiting Kumo for the last year. A had been turning them away for the most part, and B took it that he didn't want to put the village into another war so soon.

Killer-B shook his head at the ridiculousness of this war. From what he heard, this war had started from some petty border disputes between Iwa and Konoha. Didn't they already have the villages fighting only ten years ago?

Well, either way, it wasn't his place to worry about it. That was his brother's job, as the Fourth Raikage. He was lucky in that regard.

Actually, in this case, maybe it wasn't entirely on his brother.

The nature of this war seemed different. And that was entirely because of one thing.

The Daimyo seemed to be taking an active interest in the war.

Killer-b looked directly at the center of their entourage, where the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning sat in his palanquin.

Normally the man would not bother himself with the wars of the villages, preferring to let the Raikage worry about the shinobi villages, while he worried himself with Lighting country and their enemies.

But this war wasn't about the villages.

Yes, it had started out between Konoha and Iwa. But the two villages' conflict quickly spread into the conflicts of other nations.

It seemed the two of them were fighting to outdo the other. And now, they all would be forced to partake in their grievances.

The entourage stopped, the shinobi of the group tensing at the noises that emerged from the fork in the road. Their vision was blocked, however, by the most that was rolling through the hills.

The unnatural mist that rolled through the hills.

A motioned for one of the shinobi to step forward. The jonin, following his leader's orders, stepped forward and prepared a wind jutsu, a rarity in Kumo. The rest of the shinobi gathered around the Daimyo's palanquin.

A nodded to the Jonin, who released his jutsu.

A stiff breeze came swooping into the valley, parting the mist and rolling it away.

It revealed another entourage, this one from the land of water. The mizukage stood at the front, seemingly unbothered. The same. Could not be said of his shinobi.

Both groups raised their weapons, shinobi pointing their kunai at shinobi, Samurai aiming their bows and katana at samurai. It seemed this could get bloody.

"Stand down!" A called to his shinobi. He turned to the Mizukage, eyes quirked. "What business do you have here?"

"I could ask the same of you. This isn't your land to patrol is it?" The Fourth Mizukage cooly fired back.

"We were invited to possibly sign a treaty." A answered.

The Mizukage nodded. "I can safely say the same of us. I take it from the presence of your Daimyō that you do not wish to fight?"

A nodded. "Can I say the same of you?"

It was the Mizukage's turn to nod.

"Then I shall ask that we travel separately. No need to breed hostile interactions before we even get the chance to sign a treaty."

A silently agreed, and they all began walking again, making sure to keep a reasonable gap between the two entourages.

It was a known fact that no village completely trusted another. Most of the time, there were several open disagreements between each village that kept them from cooperating, with many more hidden just underneath the surface. Even allied shinobi villages, who had wiped the slate clean on cases in the light, had hidden grievances that they kept silent about. It had mostly to do with the fact that shinobi villages were mercenaries, and that made it common for each village's shinobi to fight each other while on a mission.

This treaty included the rest of their countries, however. Which changed things.

It was known that the reason Suna and Konoha were longtime allies was because their Daimyo's were close friends. The villages had to play nice, even if at times they disliked each other.

It was unprecedented for three of the villages to be in such a situation. And yet here they were, going to a summit to possibly decide that very thing.

And they were mostly doing it to fight a war. One that could quite possibly span the globe.

A pit of fear settled into Killer-b's stomach, even as he ignored it. He focused instead on climbing the steep mountain road, and watching the Land of Water entourage.

Finally, the groups were stopped by a team of Iwa shinobi.

"We will lead you into the base. Please follow us." The threat was veiled, but not to the shinobi.

—

The two entourages were led through a large factory, past large mash ones manned by civilian workers. The machines pumped out hundreds of parts and materials a minute, which workers then put together to make weapons and ammo.

The noise was deafening and the air hot. Which made the experience miserable.

Finally, they were led up a flight of stairs and to the large rectangular room overlooking the main floor of the factory.

"The gathered Daimyo are expecting your presence now." The Iwa jonin informed the, stepping to the side and holding the door open for them.

The Daimyo of the lands of Lightning and Water entered first, followed closely by their Samurai guards. The Kage followed after, their own shinobi guards.

Killer-B was the last to step into the room, eyes roving over the occupants. In the middle of the room were rows of chairs, which seated the Daimyo of the lands currently allied to the Land of Earth. Around the back of the room near the shuttered windows, many of their guards had taken to standing professionally.

The entourage for the lands of Water and Lightning spread out, the jonin and Samurai moving to the back of the room. Killer-b moves to stand next to his brother and Daimyō, while the Mizukage and Daimyō of Water stood grumpily to their side, a large gap separating them.

Near the front of the room, Killer-B noticed the Tsuchikage talking to the Daimyo of Earth, his hands waving wildly and his head shaking. They were obviously disagreeing about something, but what.

Finally, the two of them turned around to address the gathered diplomats.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to our humble factory, one of many we have around our country. Now, as you all know, our country has been at war with Konoha for a few years. Many of you here today have already joined our cause, but that does not mean we cannot make new allies in our campaign to end the Land of Fire and it's allies." The Daimyo of Earth held his hands up, as if welcoming them.

"Why should we consider allying ourselves with you?" One of the delegates of a smaller country asked with a raised brow.

"What reason would you have not to?" The Earth Daimyo's tone implied shock. He pointed at the delegates of the smaller countries. "How many times has the Land of Fire and it's hidden village pushed you around, deprived your land of wealth, or fought its wars on your land? What about their allies, surely there are those among you that are enemies with one of them as enemies."

He pointed to the Raikage and the Daimyō of Lightning. "Raikage-sama, you remember Konoha butchering your shinobi during the making of the peace talks while your father was in office. How they cheated you of the Byakugan, giving you a false eye for the life of a valuable shinobi." He looked at the Daimyo now. "Masanori-sama, you surely haven't forgotten how shamelessly the Fire Daimyo has continuously treated you and those you serve?"

He looked at the Mizukage. "Mizukage-sama, Masuyo-sama, your quest to eliminate dangerous and deranged bloodline holders is a noble cause. I'm sure I don't need to be the one to tell you that ninety percent of all the criminals that escape your lands are accepted into the Land of Fire. You would allow a nation such as that to stand in your way of cleansing the world?"

He looked at all the gathered diplomats in the room gravely. "We all have our grievances against The Land of Fire and it's hidden village, some of which can be traced to the moment it was made. Shouldn't we then all band together, to burn it to the ground?"

'He sure knows how to play a crowd' killer-b thought, watching as those who had been disagreeing before steadily changed their minds.

"Maybe what you require doesn't lie in the reason, because you all have plenty of that." The Daimyo of Earth shook his head. "What you need is incentive. Something that will benefit you, and make this whole war worth fighting."

"And what would that be?"

The Daimyo grinned. "Why, it's all around you of course." As he said that the door opened, workers pouring in holding boxes of equipment of all shapes and sizes. The commotion lasted until the last worker put his box down, bowing low and leaving the room.

"Around a year ago, an Anbu team of my Hidden Village was sent into enemy mission was to acquire bargaining chips to use against the Daimyo of Kodaina no Tochi. They failed."

Killer-B did not fail to notice the Tsuchikage take offense at the Daimyo calling the village his. Nothing could be done about it now, as the Daimyo continued.

"However, they were able to retrieve something even better." The Daimyo held up a scroll, which he put onto a stand and opened. A puff of smoke burst from the sealing paper, revealing several items and knickknacks. "We have spent the time since deconstructing and recreating these marvels."

"I see trinkets, not marvels." One of the mist shinobi snidely called out.

"Then you are a man of little vision." The Daimyo bit out. He walked up to one of the boxes and pulled out its content. As he did so, he continued to speak. "It is true that as they are, the trinkets are not the most impressive. But the theory behind their machinations are fascinating, and our finest minds have been hard at work to make them something to be feared!"

At the last word, the Daimyo twisted around, aiming the new instrument at the shinobi. From its rounded barrel, dozens upon dozens of rounds poured out, flying at the shinobi faster than he could even see.

The Daimyo has not been aiming to kill however, and all the rounds sunk deep into the wall next to his head.

The entire room tensed, drawing their weapons and ready to fight. The Daimyo was nonplussed, and continued his speech.

"This is one of the newest design for rapid fire 'machine-guns' dubbed the Spandau. It has the ability to fire 500 rounds per minute, with a range around 3,000 meters. Now, normally this weapon would be used as trench emplacement, but why wouldn't I take this chance to show you the best of the best."

The Daimyo of Earth set down the weapon, and Killer-B noticed the strain that went into holding it. It was heavier than the Daimyo had probably been expecting.

"And that is just the tip of the mountain stone. For our shinobi, we have the option to replace their flesh and blood limbs with much more durable metal." He reached out and took a thick arm made of metal, holding it to be passed around.

"These machine arms will reduce the amount of injuries shinobi's experience while on the field, as well as increase their deployment time."

He picked up a small canister with what looked to be some sort of quick release. "And trench warfare will be a thing of the past with these portable gas canisters. These gases are designed with the purpose of destroying the eyesight and lungs. If the victim doesn't get out of it, they will suffocate. This will lead us to be able to clear out trenches much easier. Of course, we have also researched ways to combat this for our troops, who will no doubt be subjected to the gases. Of course, the gases in these inventions had courses our brightest to begin researching the different uses and effects of each gas. "

"Why are you showing us this now, instead of after the treaty had been signed."

The Daimyo looked straight at the shinobi who asked that. "One simple reason. I will be giving these gifts and many more to the countries who join me. I do need competent allies, after all." Unspoken was the fact that whoever wouldn't join them would have these weapons used against them.

"Besides, I think you all needed a little incentive. Speaking of which, I think I should show you the best invention our scientists have come up with."

As he said that, the shutters on the window in the back lifted, and the occupants of the room were left to stare.

"Behold, an airborne military force not seen since the rise of the Land of Sky!"

—

Itachi watched as his team mingled with the off duty soldiers.

Given that they were still at the war front and all, they really shouldn't be so carefree. But it had been months now, and there hadn't been a single major engagement, so orders were slow. The men took advantage of this, procuring alcohol and food from the nearest friendly village and setting up a music night.

They were all enjoying it, including the members of his team.

Now, while the rules of Anbu were pretty strict for the most part, certain leniencies were given when on long engagements such as these. Their masks were to be on at all times while working, but they were technically off duty when not fighting. Of course, they did not have the leniency when it came to names, and so the soldiers only knew their faces and code names.

The soldiers, of course, were made to understand the secrecy and danger that came with knowing even their faces, and had sworn secrecy. Which was a good thing, because it made it easier for them all to get along. Which was important during engagements.

And it was also a good thing for times like this, when the Anbu team was just as tired and bored as the rest of the men. Not only were they invited at the soldiers own will, the entire team came to partake.

And if there was a little more alcohol and food at the table than the soldiers could account for, they didn't say anything.

Itachi smirked as Noda coached Naruto in a simple dance she could do, while Kenta and Tano were readjusting themselves with their instruments of choice, tuning the strings or loosening the pedals.

Kakashi, of course, was off to the side with a small group of older guys. They all had a familiar orange cover book, comparing the quality of their copies between the limited edition counterparts. If they swooned over the signature in Kakashi's book, well… that was their business.

Itachi stood off to the side by himself. He wasn't one for social gatherings or alcohol much. But he would have to admit, there was a certain joy that came with watching.

Besides, it wouldn't be long before Noda drug him into the action. He was enjoying what little antisocial behavior behavior he could left.

He wouldn't have it any other way.

"Excuse me Otter-san, a message addressed to you."

Itachi turned to face the messenger with his brow raised. His face was bare of his mask, so the messenger saw his confusion.

"I don't know who it's from, it's sealed for a reason."

The messenger left as soon as Itachi took the scroll, leaving the Uchiha staring at the black wrapped scroll with trepidation.

He unsealed it, reading their sets within. As he read, his heart sunk, and soon he had read everything it had to say.

His gaze lifted, heartbroken. He stared at his teammates, eyes roving over to his Taicho.

Kakashi felt his gaze, meeting his eyes. The silverette rose his eyebrow in question.

Itachi turned to leave. He had to pack.

He was halfway to the barracks when Kakashi landed next to him, matching his pace.

"Taicho."

"Itachi-kun. Message from Konoha?"

Itachi nodded. "Orders from the top."

Kakashi eye smile. "Ah, so we're being redeployed? Where to?"

"I'm being called back to Konoha for diplomacy reasons."

Kakashi paused at this. "Alone?"

Itachi nodded, and Kakashi sighed. "The team will miss you. Are you leaving right away?"

Itachi shook his head. "I won't be heading out until tomorrow. Not before I've said my goodbyes as well. I just figured I would take this time to pack."

Kakashi gave him a side hug, using the movement to turn the two of them around. "I'll tell you what. Spend the rest of the night with the team. Afterwards, I'll help you pack everything you need."

Itachi sighed, but nodded.

He couldn't figure out why, but he had a bad feeling he might not get to serve on the same team as the rest of them ever again. The least he could do was spend a few more hours as their teammate.

—-

"If loyalty is so black and white, how do you know the true loyalties of the shinobi you serve with? If the heart is so easily twisted and betrayed, what is to stop loyalty from being similarly twisted?

The only way for a shinobi to truly serve the village, to truly show their loyalty, is to give their hearts to the village. To sacrifice their free will, their very essence, not to the Hokage, or the council. Not to the will of fire, or the ideals of the first Hokage. It is by aligning your loyalty with the essence of the village, with the one who radiates the true ideals that make the village.

A village where people can grow up, not slaughtered from senseless infighting. A village that unites all people, through peace or war, into one people. A village where some people sacrifice themselves, that the rest may flourish. This is the noblest way.

In order for the leaves to be green, the roots must grow. Only then will the tree flourish.

It is the only way.

—

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap!
> 
> I hoped you all enjoyed reading.
> 
> Again, I was trying to set up some things important for future chapters, so other was a lot of character interaction and behind the scenes machinations.
> 
> Next chapter will start up with the serious things again, so stay tuned.
> 
> It took me a bit to write this, somewhat because I'm also writing a chapter for two different stories as well. I should hopefully update them all at the same time.
> 
> Also, there were a few hints toward some things that'll be in the next chapter, if you can guess.
> 
> Also, I hope someone caught onto what I'm doing with these quotes/monologues at the beginning and end of each chapter.
> 
> I pretty much addressed everything in the opening authors note, so until next chapter.
> 
> Stay safe and healthy, keep yourselves entertained, give your pets and families some lovin' and a good day to you all.
> 
> Ja~ne


	16. Episode 16: The Squall of the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The breaking of the storm has come, and Konoha and its allies are forced to face it head on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am legitimately sorry.
> 
> for those of you who haven't read Stigma of a Jinjuriki, let me catch you up to speed.
> 
> My brother in law (Practically my dad) who live with had to go and get surgery at the hospital recently, and so I had to take a break from pretty much everything to help him recover. the nature of the surgery made it so he couldn't lift anything above 20 pounds, or he'd have the stiches break open.
> 
> After he got the stitches removed, he started going back to work, and then everything else in May/June started going on.
> 
> it got to the point where I couldn't find a moment where I was inspired, motivated, or writer's block-less enough to sit down and write.
> 
> I've literally spent at least the past two weeks trying to spit this chapter out. But I just couldn't.
> 
> I decided today I wasn't doing anything, not sleeping,eating, showering or gaming or anything else, until this chapter was out.
> 
> and here we are, a new chapter, and a longer chapter than usual to boot.
> 
> so, here it is, chapter 16 of Naruto Evergarden, in its full glory.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy.
> 
> happy reading.

“A shinobi’s job is to be useful. Not according to our desires, but according to our power.”  
_________________________

Itachi sat his bags down on his bed, eyes roaming over the grey walls of his room. He had already greeted his mother on his return, his father already hounding him on ‘Uchiha clan matters’. 

He just got back and that was the first thing on his father’s mind, despite Itachi serving in another war. No matter, his father could wait. Itachi had more important matters to attend to.

Maybe he should go catch up with Izumi, she was stationed in the village right? And Sasuke would no doubt be thrilled to find his older brother picking him up from the academy today. Itachi hadn’t seen his brother in a while.

He had a few hours before Sasuke would get out of school either way. Maybe he could drop by a shop and find some Pocky, something strawberry flavored would be nice. He had nothing pressing to attend to, having already reported in to the Hokage. 

He steadily ignored the knowledge that he had duties he would need to fulfill. For now, he just wanted some normalcy. It was in increasingly short supply these days.

Itachi turned to leave his room, leaving unacking for a later time. He’d probably regret it later when he was too busy to do anything else, but he didn’t care. For now he was going to find some pocky, and then find his on again off again girlfriend. After that, he’d spend some time with her, maybe treat her to some lunch. Then they’d both be there to pick up his brother. Then they could spend some time, just the three of them, away from clan politics and secret meetings and schemes, away from all the double crossings and secret spy work. 

He’s hoped that being assigned to the Hokage’s ‘protect Naruto’ Anbu team would get him away from all this. Alas, it didn’t last.

But that was ok, because today he wouldn’t be worrying about any of that. Just pocky, his girlfriend and his little brother would be all that occupied his mind, that and where they’d go to squander their time.

Tomorrow would be different, but for now, he was looking forward to some personal time.

It was long overdue.

_________________________

Genkai was a man with no last name. He was not the sort of man to have proses written in his honor. There were no songs about his deeds, and there would never be historians to research his life in full. Despite his service to his village, Iwa had seemingly forgotten him.

Sure, the retired Chunin had friends, a lover, a child even. And his service, while not outstanding, was commendable. But it had been cut short, much too quickly.

The explosive tag that took his arm saw to that.

The injury was old by about ten years, and he had adapted. It sometimes still felt like he was adapting. He could look after himself just fine, and his eight year old daughter never even thought of his injury as anything but normal. He was lucky to come back at all.

But even to this day, Genkai was still devastated. He loved his village, almost more than his friends who came from clans or prestigious shinobi families did. His only wish was to give back to the village that had taken his family in. And he had been doing that when he served as a shinobi.

And then the tag took his arm, and he had been honorably discharged.

Even though he knew he should be grateful to be alive, even though he knew his family was, he couldn't help but to be devastated still. And he knew how much his devastation weighed on his family's mind. How much it hurt them to see the pain in his eyes every time the disability check arrived via messenger Chunin.

He couldn’t help it.

He played it off sure, in an effort to spare their minds the burden. He did not complain when he learned to be a stay at home dad while his childhood sweetheart and now wife worked hard in the village’s accounting division. Even picked up a hobby that he could make a profit off of. And he never once mentioned his pain while watching the ninja surrounding him serve their village longer then he ever did, instead offering tips and tricks to any youthful ear that would listen.

So when his old Jonin Sensei asked to meet him at their old hangout, he did not stop to think twice before he decided he would be there. Even arriving twenty minutes early.

He sat at the booth, stirring his purchased tea, and waited.

The minutes stretched on, and Genkai felt each second ticking by, each seemingly slower than the last. Finally, he arrived.

The greying man approached his booth slowly, limping steps somehow gracefully carrying him through the aisles. His eyes did not once leave the form of his old student, even when dodging the careless new waitress’ tray of food.

The old Jonin sat down across from the retired chunin, a warm smile lighting his face. “Its been a while Genkai-kun.” 

“Likewise Sensei. I don’t believe we’ve seen each other since Shoko’s fourth birthday.”

“How is she by the way?” 

“She’s been doing well. She started the academy just a few months ago, and she seems to be well on her way to being an excellent shinobi. How has Veterans Affairs been treating you?”

“Same as always. Constant bickering on where to send funding amounting to no real progress on any front.” His Sesei dramatically moaned, thudding his head against the booth table. 

Genkai caught his soup from where it was about to tip over, only the slightest drip of soup spilling out. “Well, that’s to be expected I guess. Doesn’t really surprise me when most of the board is filled with civilians who’ve never seen a day of combat.”

“At least the Tsuchikage will be whipping them into shape soon.”

“Oh? What’s happening to make the Tsuchikage focus his attention on Veterans?” it wasn’t common for the Kage to switch his attention to people not currently serving.

His old sensei sat up and leaned closer to him, eyes darting around the restaurant. A gleam of excitement temporarily overpowering the crows nest around his eyes, almost making the man seem years younger.

“Well, the Tsuchikage will be making the announcement soon, and we weren’t strictly forbidden from spreading the knowledge, so i guess I can tell you. But only because I know how much it’ll mean to you personally.”

He leaned forward, a quick and low powered privacy jutsu thrown around their conversation to discourage nosey civilians. “There’s been a breakthrough in Prosthetic Technology lately. The Tsuchikage will be offering it free to any disabled shinobi who wishes, on the condition they sign back to active duty.”

Genkai froze, looking at his Sensei in surprise. “Really?”

His sensei nodded his head.

Genkai nearly burst from his seat in excitement, ready to sign the contract already. A stray thought made his celebration come to a screeching halt early. “And what if someone doesn't want to go back to fighting? What if they have other responsibilities now? Will we still be allowed to get a prosthetic if we can’t commit to the frontlines?”

His Sensei shook his head. “There will surely be plans to spread the prosthetics into the civilian world after the war. But for now, the war effort gets first priority to all resources, and the prosthetics are all pretty costly. The Tsuchikage knows that we need to bolster our forces, and new recruits won’t exactly have the experience or training to stay alive. It’s lucky we have these prosthetics, or we wouldn’t be able to draw from those willing to fight in the Veterans.”

Genkai sunk to his seat as he sunk in his thoughts. On the one hand, he could finally go back to serving his Village again, he could have his arm back! On the other, his wife and child needed him. Sure, they both could take care of themselves, but he knew what it was like to grow up without a father. How would his daughter feel if he seemingly abandoned her to fight in a war, one he could easily have gotten out of with the excuse of being disabled, of having already served his time?

This was not a decision to make lightly. Or alone.

“I need to talk to my wife about this Sensei. I can’t make a decision this big without her input.”

His Sensei nodded. “I thought it would be so, which is why I told you now. The Tsuchikage announces the project this weekend, that gives you four days to talk it out with your wife.

They both stood, and His Sensei embraced him in a hug. “No matter what decision you make, know that I’m proud to have served with you as a shinobi. And If you decide to stay with your family, know I will never judge you.”

The two of them parted, and as his sensei payed the tab, Genkai left the restaurant, heading straight to his house. He’d better tell his wife immediately, or they wouldn’t have the time to make the decision wisely.

_____________

Four days after he and his sensei had the conversation, Genkai stood near the front of the line outside the Veterans office. He and his wife had been talking since then, and had come to this decision. 

He would accept the Prosthetic, and the duties that came with it.

It was highly unlikely he would be sent to the front of the lines, there were thousands of shinobi, and likewise thousands of jobs needed to be filled. Even if he was on the frontlines, he and his wife were convinced he would be safe. The Tsuchikage had been introducing new technology into the shinobi war effort for a few months now, and with all these innovations, everyone was convinced they’d wipe the floor with Konoha.

He was sure shoko knew something was up, but neither he nor his wife had talked to their daughter about it yet. He had convinced his wife, after many arguments, to let himself do it. It would be best for him to have that conversation with his daughter. Only after he had accepted the prosthetic though, that way there was no chance to turn back when he had the conversation. Shoko could throw out some mean arguments, and he wanted to make sure there was no way his daughter could convince him to change his mind.

The line moved up, and soon it was his turn to enter the building, and receive his prosthetic.

\--

The surgery was successful, and the prosthetic was bolted onto the synthetic joint. Genkai was wheeled into the resting room, and against the nurse’s orders, he tested the new limb out.

It was heavy, and bulky. The chakra condensive steel plates slid past each other smoothly, but the range of motion was slightly off compared to his flesh and bone arm, and the chakra battery powering it was large and uncomfortably close to his body, where he could feel its warmth. But the important thing was, it moved when he wanted it to. The motors inside the small cavities of the arm pulled and pushed the limb to allow him a somewhat limited range of motion similar to his other arm.

That was more than he had without.

He reached over to the glass of water the nurses had left him, experimentally clutching to lift. A sharp crack snapped through the room, and the glass shattered. 

Genkai frowned. The strength had clutched harder than he had ordered it to.

He was interrupted when the door burst open, and a figure barreled into his non-prosthetic side. His Nurse and wife followed after, the nurse shouting demands and his wife apologies.

He shooed the nurse away after a moment, telling her it was fine and he was ready for visitors anyway. His wife followed the nurse out after a second, having offered to find her and their daughter something to eat. Meanwhile, he was left with his precious child, and he knew it was time for them to talk.

“What’s the matter chibi-chan?” 

His eight year old daughter mumbled into his chest, and a soft smile lit his face. “Sorry honey, can’t understand faceplant”

She lifted her head, teary eyes locking to his. “Why do you have to go?”

Genkai sighed, gathering his daughter up so she could sit in his lap. He was careful not to be too trusting on the new arm. Crushing a glass was one thing, his daughter…. “It’s my duty to the village. Us shinobi have to protect the village from things that seek to hurt us, and right now, that means The Leaf and its allies.”

“But why you?! You’ve already done everything asked of you! Why do they have to pull you away from us again?!”

“Because if it wasn’t me, then someone else would be forced to. Someone else who didn’t have the training or experience, someone else who would die, and leave behind loved ones. If Tsuchikage-sama didn’t choose us veterans, much more rookies would die in our place.”

He stroked her hair in a calming manner, brushing stray strands of hair away from her face. “I chose this chibi-chan. I want to take an active part in protecting you guys.”

“You can protect us here!” Shoko shook her head. “You don’t need to abandon us to protect us!”

Genkai’s heart sank at that. “I’m not abandoning you, I promise. I won’t be partaking in any dangerous battles, and even if I was, I’ll make my way back to you no matter how long it takes.”

His daughter looked up and met his eyes, taking a moment to wipe her tears. “Promise?”

“I swear it.” he crossed his fingers over his heart, making an x. “And what do I always say if I break a promise?”

“I don’t care about getting all the treats in the world. I want you.” she collided into his chest in a hug.

He rubbed her back comfortingly. “Well, you won’t need to worry about that anyway, because this is a promise I’m keeping, no matter what.” they stayed like that for a while, just hugging the other and basking in their presence.

An idea popped into Genkai’s head, and he lifted his daughter’s head. “In fact, I’m so serious about this promise, I’m going to give you something that shows how serious about this promise I am!”

“What?” Shoko’s face twisted in puzzlement.

Genkai answered by reaching into his shirt, pulling a chain out until a ring popped out. Genkai reached around his head, unlatching the necklace. He handed it to his daughter, smiling sadly.

Shoko took the necklace, looking over the golden ring with interest. “What is it?”   
“That’s my father’s wedding ring. Its all I’ve ever had of him. And I want you to hold onto it until I get back Ok?”

She nodded her head, carefully putting the necklace on. It was a bit too big for her, reaching all the way to her stomach and nearly laying in her lap. 

Shoko pouted at her father. “I still don’t want you to leave.”

Genkai chuckled. “I know sweetheart. But I don’t have to leave right away. I still have to do a few weeks of physical therapy, and then a month or so to get myself into fighting shape. I won’t be leaving for a while.”

The two of them sat there for an hour, father comforting daughter, until Genkai’s wife and Shoko’s mother came with food. The three sat together, comfortably eating and laughing.

A month later, they would be split apart for the war effort.

But for now, they relished in each other’s company.

_________________________

November 12th,   
3rd year of the First True World War,   
Thursday afternoon.

Naruto sat along the edge of the trench, carefully peering over the snowy edge. She had been assigned to a team of footsoldiers, along with a couple of chunin, as sentries. Their job for now was to keep an eye on No Man’s Land and sound the alarm at any hint of enemy activity. So far, there had been no such need.

Just like the last few months.

Among the regular troops, rumours spread of the war’s approaching end. Hopes and fears spread from one end of the trench to the other.

But to the Shinobi, they met the lack of activity with suspicion. The only reason they could think for the lack of activity was that the enemy was regrouping, planning a large scale assault or a flanking maneuver.

Unfortunately, they had no way to tell. The last few reconnaissance teams came back empty handed, with a few not coming back at all.

They were in the dark, and it was bothering them all to the point of restlessness.

Naruto switched out with one of the other shinobi, allowing him to keep watch over No Man’s land. The young Anbu moved out and into the actual trench, where the rest of the sentry team sat huddled along the bottom of the trench and staging off boredom by telling jokes and stories. Those who weren’t on duty shoveled snow out of the trenches in an effort to keep dry.

Naruto opted to sit a foot away from them. She wasn’t sure how to begin a conversation with strangers, and she wasn’t comfortable being so far away from her fam… Anbu team.

Two of the other soldiers scooted towards her, ignoring her attempts to not socialize. She recognized one of them, the boy she fought next to months ago during a trench run. Edu...Idun? She wasn’t sure, they never actually introduced themselves to each other.

The other soldier was not anyone she ever met before. His red hair was too unique for her to have forgotten him. They both came to a stop near her.

“Hello again.” The one she had met before (Eren? No, it didn’t have an r sound to it. Maybe da? Idan?), greeted cheerfully.

Naruto nodded her head to him. “Hello.” Her facial expressions were blocked from view due to her Anbu mask. She considered taking it off to make conversation less awkward, but she was on duty. Also, she was already feeling awkward as it was. Growing up in an environment where the only people she could safely socialize with were people her pseudo grandfather personally vetted, with consequences of stepping out of those carefully selected groups ranging from bullying to bodily harm made trusting strangers a hard endeavor. But if it was one thing she learned, her allies from out of the Leaf Village were trustworthy. 

Even so, Ten years dealing with bad people was hard to let go of, even if the last few of them were spent with people she cared about.

She settled with relaxing her muscles, allowing her body to slump into the wall. Even if they could not read her face, they could read her body language, and so she settled for portraying calm.

It seemed to work, as the other two stopped relaxed slightly.

“Sorry, I wasn’t sure if you wanted to talk or not, but you and Spencer are the only two people I really know and I get really nervous whenever I’m with strangers so...”

She tilted her head at them curiously. “Spencar?” She tested the name out. The consonants and vowels twisting her tongue in strange ways.

“Spencer.” The redhead (Spencer apparently) repeated helpfully. “It has more of an elongated e sound.”

Naruto tried again. “Spenceeeer...Spenceerr... Spencer…”

“There you go, you’ve got it.” (Edenn?) cheered helpfully. 

Naruto turned to him. “How do you say your name?”

“My name? You pronounce it A-den. Aidan”

Naruto tried the name again, tilting her head curiously until the two of them were satisfied. 

“That’s better.” Aiden nodded. “Your pronunciation is almost perfect.” he gestured to her. “What about you? you haven’t really introduced yourself.”

“Ocelot…”Naruto answered absentmindedly, face scrunched up in confusion. The two soldiers didn’t see this, again, due to her mask. She never heard names like theirs. She lost herself in her thoughts while Aiden semi-explained semi-complained about Anbu customs to a confused Spencer.

Actually, she has heard such names, during her first ever mission. The one to Kodaina no Tochi. 

She turned to Spencer, who was still trying to make sense of the information bestowed to him by Aiden. (although the information was probably flawed, which meant Naruto or another Anbu would have to correct that sooner or later). “Do you come from Kodaina-no-Tochi?”

Spencer nodded. “Yes and no. I mean, I was born there, and my family lived there, but we’ve mostly been moving around since my sister was born. My parents haven’t decided on settling down anywhere just yet, but they really seemed to like their newest home so far. Well, they did at least until they were ordered to evacuate for their safety.”

“You did mention they sent you a letter earlier. Weren’t they going back to pick up some things today?” Aiden asked.

“They did mention their intention to stop by the house. They want to save some things in case the war gets too close, and they haven’t felt confident about going before. Considering the state of the war now, I think they don’t really have to worry about the war for too much longer.”

Aiden nodded as if it made all the sense in the world, and Naruto turned to him. “Where do you come from?”

Her fellow blond chuckled, rubbing his neck nervously. “No, though the country I’m from is near there. I’m from Hashi-no-Kuni before it was… occupied.” his smile turned into a frown, and his gaze sunk to the floor. “You know, many of my countrymen hate what’s happened to it. That’s why we fled to Kodaina. Most of us joined the war effort because we want to free our fellow countryman from Taiga-no-Kuni’s Influence.”

Naruto’s feelings of awkwardness grew, and her gaze shifted. She didn’t really know how to answer that, and judging from Spencer’s body language, neither did he.

Seemingly sensing their awkwardness, Aiden shook himself from his melancholy thoughts. “Well, that’s enough of downer talks. How about we change the subject? Spencer, any special girl back home?”

Spencer flushed bright red, nearly matching the shade of his hair. “W-What a-are you talking about man!?” he stammered.

Aiden wiggled his eyebrows. “You know what I mean! A special lady, A Girlfriend!”

Spencer shook his head. “No, it’s just me, my sister and my parents. Haven’t really had the chance to look for a girlfriend.”

Aiden frowned disappointedly, before shaking it off and turning to Naruto. “What about you?”

Naruto pointed to herself, her brows twitching with how confused she was. “I’m ten… and Anbu.”

Aiden sbalked. “Well, I knew you were young,well, younger than me, but ten? And they let you in the army? This seems more serious than a crush! What are you doing in the army?”

Naruto shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m in the Anbu because of special circumstances.” her voice came out oddly flatter than she had gone for.

“Special Circumstances, what, like one of those shinobi bloodlines or something?” he asked curiously.”

“Something like that.” she wasn’t sure if that was a truthful answer or not, but considering what happened to put her in anbu, she wasn’t sure if that answer was more socially acceptable or not. 

“But still, ten?”

“What are you, like eighteen? Lay off dude. It doesn’t seem like she had much choice in the matter.” Spencer shook his head.

Aiden immediately backed off, giving a distracted shrug. “Well, I’m sure you’ll find someone when you’re older, there’s no need to look at all for at least six years. What about family or friends?”

Naruto shook her head again. “Just my team.” She thinks her team’s kind of like a family, but then she doesn’t know if she really has the experience to tell.

“Oh, thats too bad then.” his tone of voice was genuinely remorseful for her, and she wasn’t sure if she should be offended or not.

A few seconds of silence passed.

Naruto watched Aiden’s body language, it was obvious he was waiting for someone to ask him about his own love life. “Whaaat about you?” her question came out slowly, and questioned more than his love life.

“I’m glad you asked!” his face split into a megawatt grin, and he went off onto a tangent, talking about a girl named Maria (Maah-reeeaah)who followed him and his family to escape the occupation of his country.

Naruto listened intently, curious about what life was like outside the village (outside of the war, outside of being hated by villagers for undescernable reasons, outside Anbu)

Aiden kept talking until he spotted one of the other men pulling out bottles of booze, and he went over to try and pilfer one.

Spencer turned to Naruto. “Sorry about him, he’s… social?”

Naruto tilted her head again. It was one of the only ways to show confusion without removing her mask. “Have you known him a long time?”

“Not really.only a couple of weeks.”

Naruto’s face scrunched up behind her mask. “Are you supposed to apologize for people you met only a week ago?”

Spencer chuckled. “Not really. I just figured I would because he kind of put you on the spot for your age.”

She wasn’t sure about his answer, but she decided to leave it alone. Social interaction with strangers was weird. 

Her ears twitched, and Naruto jolted upright, listening intently. Something was off, and she couldn’t tell what it was. A quiet sound, just barely below a whisper in the wind. What she picked up was sharp, like a whistle, but faint.

Spencer went to speak up, likely to comment on her tensing up, but she shushed him and got up to her feet.

She needed to listen, and conversation would block out the noise.

Shinobi typically had sharper hearing than civilians, and could protect themselves from loud noises with a coat of chakra around the eardrum. This allowed them to protect their hearing during loud fights, to conserve it so they could hear the subtle whispers on the wind when performing stealthy missions. It also had the benefit of protecting their hearing with the loud Booms of the new “gun” technology.

Naruto’s hearing was sharper than most shinobi, for reasons she didn’t understand (even if she had only recently begun learning about it, and utilizing it as a shinobi). So she wasn’t surprised that no one seemed to hear what she was hearing now.

The sound steadily grew louder, and soon she could pinpoint its direction. Up?

Her head jolted up in panic. There was no way, everyone would have heard the booming of the artillery.

It wasn’t artillery.

It was something new.

“Are those birds? In this weather?” Spencer seemed to have caught on somewhat, turning to look up like she had.

Naruto turned to him, eyes wide, and tackled him to the ground screaming “Take cover!” 

The soldiers around her froze for half a second, before scurrying to duck for cover. And then everything erupted into chaos.

Above them, from the heavens, rained exploding tags wrapped around bricks of metal. None of them seemed very accurate, but occasionally a few of them landed in the trenches, detonating among the soldiers there. Luckily for Naruto, none of them landed near her, although she could still feel the debris they knocked up landing around her.

Finally, the explosions stopped, and Naruto took a moment to stand up. Her gaze darted to her surroundings.

The recon bunker she had been in earlier was sunken in, having taken a direct hit by one of the exploding tag bombs. The chunin and foot soldier inside the tiny bunker never stood a chance against the explosion, and she was just thankful that the bunker was higher than the rest of the trench, which allowed the walls to take most of the shrapnel.

Most of the shrapnel didn’t mean all of the shrapnel. Spencer lay next to her, leg bloody and wounded. She produced bandages from her kunai pouch, quickly wrapping the wound. There was no time to try and pluck the shrapnel from his leg.

Especially because most of her attention was in listening.

There was no way that was the last of it. It seemed too little damage to have the enemy be satisfied, especially when she saw the distant flying machines in the air swerve around and back to behind their own lines.

Sure enough, faint booming alerted the whole trenchline of incoming artillery. And where artillery came crashing down, enemy foot soldiers came rushing after.

“Artillery!” someone yelled out. 

“They’re rushing No Man’s Land!” someone else cried.

Naruto’s world erupted in the cracking of weapons as her allies rushed to defend the trenches, firing their guns out into no man’s land. A few shells from the artillery landed around their position, but no explosions followed. She was tempted to ignore them as duds.

Except thick yellow gas began pouring out of the craters they caused, pouring into parts of the trenches. The soldiers exposed to the gas began coughing violently, clawing at their eyes and exposed skin releasing wet, gurgling screams.

Naruto cursed inwardly, unsheathing her Tanto. She had to make sure not to run into any of that gas, and hope that none of it came her way. She looked down to Spencer. “Can you still fight?”

“I can shoot, but running isn’t going to be possible with my leg like this.” He grimaced, one eye closed in pain.

Naruto nodded, lifting him up and setting him against the wall of the trench. She created a clone, who crouched low and hid itself. “This clone will protect you, but know that it only takes one hit to dispel. If it comes down to it, the clone will take you as far to safety as it can.”

She turned and dashed down the trenchline. She had to fulfill her duty, and that was to take care of any enemy Shinobi so the regular troops can fight.

_________________________

As Naruto ran, she listened to her surroundings. Screams of the dying, both ally and enemy, crashed into her ear. The enemy had yet to actually breach the trenches, but the Gas spilling into the trenches seemed to have a fatal effect on those exposed to it too long. Meanwhile, those who could jumped to the edge of the trench and began unloading their ammunition into the rushing enemy. 

Dozens upon dozens of soldiers in the enemy lines fell, but for every one that fell, three more took his place. They also made sure to spread apart, leading to large gaps in enemy formations and less chances for multiple casualties on the enemies part.

They were getting too close, even with the artillery fire thinning out bits of their numbers.

Naruto ignored the hollowing pit in her stomach, the sting of tears in her eyes. The… fear.

Because she was afraid ok? She was terrified. She was in the middle of a warzone, with uncountable enemies surrounding her, and her team was nowhere in sight. But she gritted her teeth and tightened her hold of her weapon. She would get through this.

She had to.

And so she breathed, and tried to remember what her therapist once said.

“Ninja are tools of their village, we must be willing to lay down our lives for the good of konoha. Ninja are tools of their village, we must be willing to lay down our lives for the good of konoha”

She tried the breathing exercises she had showed her, as well as the emotional blocks. And soon, she had her emotions under control.

And then she moved.

She charged through the trenches, slicing any enemy trying to jump their way in. she ignored her feelings, trying desperately to lock them away for the duration of this mission. Meanwhile, her legs carried her through chaos, dashing back and forth along her designated stretch of trenchline. Her sword sung as it slashed through enemies. Drawing blood.

There were too many of them, and too little of her allies.

Something flashed in her peripheral vision, and she threw herself back. Dozens of shuriken lodged themselves into the wall next to her head, and Naruto swiveled her head to glare at the direction they came from. 

Sure enough, an enemy shinobi was there.

It was not an Iwa shinobi.

Naruto couldn’t see much of what the shinobi was wearing due to the cloak, but what she did she mentally categorized.

Tight shirt and pants with bandages, unconfirmed chance of wound? Closed toe boots, non steel toe. More bandages spilling from cloak sleeves, possible wrapped arms. Loose, thick cloak, suitable to protect against airborne poisons capable of harming the skin, most likely the yellow gas. A vest made the cloak bulge outward from the chest, and based on the shape was possibly a chunin vest. Wrappings around the neck leading up to a tight hood pulled closely around the head. Gas mask with extended mouthpiece wrapping off to the sides of the head, with some sort of protective face covering sown to the edges. 

Four diagonal squiggly lines grouped like a square in the center of a metal forehead protector. No mark of abandonment.

Kirigakure has allied itself with Iwa, and now they were here, joining in on the attack. It was safe to assume that Kirigakure’s Daimyo had pledged their allegiance to Iwa’s cause as well, which brought the Land of Water and all its allies under Iwa’s fold.

Konoha was once again outnumbered.

Naruto shook her thoughts to pay attention to the Shinobi’s movements, who began circling her. Let the Hokage and his war cabinet worry about the state of the enemies alliships. For now, Naruto had to focus on not dying.

There was one good thing to be considered with the Mist shinobi’s arrival, and that was one simple fact.

The shinobi came decked out in protective gear, which meant that there were measurements that could be made to protect oneself from the yellow gas. Steps Anbu had considered long ago and implemented into the Anbu gear.

Anbu masks filtered air with the use of seals, protecting Anbu members from inhaling any Poisons. Based on the Mist shinobi’s clothing choice, as long as something was covering the skin, one should be fine in case of exposure to the gas.

Naruto made all these observations in seconds while she circled the Mist shinobi, who seemed to have been monologuing during her observations.

It didn’t matter, she hadn’t been listening to any of it. She charged, brandishing her Tanto, and swung at the shinobi.

The Mist shinobi cursed in shock, his deep voice muffled through his mask. He lifted his arm to protect herself, and Naruto prepared herself for the moment her Tanto would slice through.

Only, it bounced off with the loud clink of metal striking metal, and Naruto was left confused as she jumped away from the man’s retaliatory swipe.

“What the hell Bitch?! That was fucking rude! You don’t just cut someone off when they’re talking! Who taught you your manners treehugger?!”

Naruto ignored his curses, eying the man’s arm suspiciously. “Why didn’t that cut you?”

She couldn’t see past the man’s mask, but she could tell he was smirking from the superior huff oozing into his voice. “Oh, this old thing? Well, It’s not really any of your business, but I guess I can show you. It's not like it’ll be much of a secret after today, and you won’t really live to tell the tale anyway. Bitch.” the last insult was tacked on late, and as if he realized he hadn’t insulted her enough to meet some sort of inner quota.

He pulled back his sleeve, revealing a metal arm. “This little prosthetic is a gift to us from Iwa, a reward for joining in on their crusade to rid the trash that is Konoha from the face of the earth. Trash like you wouldn’t understand the scientific genius that went into making this, neither would you recognize how superior we are to you, for unlocking the medical miracle of regaining lost limbs.

Except she did recognize it. She recognized the bulky, heavy joints, to the thick metal plates welded to them. She recognized the thick, stick-like fingers, and the joints that allowed only a fraction of a limbs true flexibility. She even recognized the large chakra battery attached to it, although it was moved closer to the inside of the arm. The only other difference was the chakra condensive steel it was made from.

She knew it well, after all, Bashord-San was the one who showed her in the first place. He was the one to invent it.

She felt a rush of anger at the man, and at Iwa, for daring to claim a hand in its creation. All they did was steal it! And kill 130 civilians in the process, innocent people, Innocent children!

Naruto froze, forcing calm. It would not help her to get angry. It would only make her sloppy. 

She forced calm onto herself, following her therapists guidelines on shinobi mental states. She needed to survive, and she didn’t have her team to back her up. She needed all the calm, calculating mentality she could get.

She rushed the Kiri Chunin again, ignoring his continued monologuing. She wasn’t interested in the man’s propaganda poisoned words. 

The man cursed again, blocking Naruto’s tanto with his metal arm. He threw a kunai at her, making naruto dodge back, only for her to rush right back in and continue attacking.

She nearly landed a killing blow when he kicked her away while cursing violently. “That’s it you little fucker! I can’t believe there’s someone as rude as you who exists. Even for Konoha trash!”

He performed hand signs, though they were much slower than she was used to. Naruto privately wondered if this man had been promoted to chunin before he was ready, and then she thought it was likely because Kiri was bolstering their forces for the war effort.

“Take this Bitch! Kirigakure no Jutsu!” he yelled, throwing glass canisters at his feet. They burst open, yellow gas spilling into the air.

The liquid gas dispersed into the air, creating a thick cloud of poisonous gas. 

Naruto had heard of this technique from Taicho, it was originally supposed to create a thick mist, allowing for Kiri shinobi to perform its counterpart move, the Silent Killing.

She supposed this variant created a poisonous cloud of gas the user could control, along with using the silent killing technique.

She could feel the slightest amount of pain from the gas, gaps where gas seeped past her clothes and began slowly burning her skin. She withdrew her bandages and quickly sealed the breaches, keeping her ears trained for any signs of movement.

They were still in the trenches, and above her Naruto could hear the sounds of bullets flying through the air, so she felt safe enough to rule that out as a possible approach point for her enemy. If the enemy were more skilled, she’d be worried, but assuming from his overall skill level, he was not chunin material, she would be fine.

That left only the direction the Shinobi was coming from as a possible threat, and even if the shinobi tried using the walls, she still knew his general direction.

She was proven right when she heard his feet scuffle just slightly, and the slight woosh of his arm traveling towards her.

She dodged the attempted bashing of her head, as well as the follow up kunai. She tripped him when he went for a stab, and he nearly fell.

The shinobi growled at her, catching himself. “How can you tell where I am?!”

“I can hear you.” Naruto deadpanned, although it came out sounding stiff.

“Can you hear me?” an feminine voice sounded behind her, and Naruto threw herself forward.

She barely dodged the katana to her back, but the blade sliced through her cloak, allowing the yellow gas to meet her skin. She ignored the burning sensation, focusing on deflecting the next two katana blows with her own Tanto.

Naruto jumped away from the clear Jonin level shinobi, dodging past the chunin, who tried to clumsily swipe at her.

She could have taken the chunin hostage, but she didn’t trust what a reckless shinobi could do.

“You shouldn’t rush off like that choco-chan. What would mom say if she knew you were being so reckless?”

“She’s dead bitch! Don’t try to tell me how to live my life!”

Naruto stared at the two shinobi, discreetly making shadow clones and sending them off into the poisonous mist. Some of them were immediately destroyed by the overhead firefight, but a few made it through.

The jonin looked at Naruto, body language clearly unimpressed to make up for the lack of facial language. “That wasn’t very smart.”

Naruto ignored the woman’s dig, instead jumping out of the yellow gas. Her fingers sped through handsigns, and she breathed in. “Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu”

Two of her clones, who were much closer to the edge of the cloud of gas, performed their own jutsu. With a cry of ‘Kaatsu-fū no bōru no Jutsu’, they released their jutsu.

The two balls of wind met the ball of fire, feeding it and causing it to grow into a massive, bright white hot ball of fire. The fire wall flew through the cloud of gas, parting it as it went further in. eventually, the ball of fire exploded, raining hot dirt and debris and melting snow.

Naruto glared at the smokey crater left behind, eyes roaming the area where the two shinobi had stood. She took half a second to be glad none of her living allies had been in the blast radius, although she could hear them fighting all around her.

A figure burst out of the smoke, cursing obscenities and swiping at his smoking clothing angrily. Naruto frowned. The chunin didn’t seem skilled enough to escape on his own, which meant the jonin was still alive.

Naruto watched as the jonin walked calmly out of the smoke, completely untouched. 

“I commend you for that brilliant display. Unfortunately, that flame was much to weak to stand up to the might of my water based Jutsu.” the woman’s sultry voice called out. Naruto’s brow twitched with annoyance.

“That’s right. Nii-san wouldn’t fall to the likes of you!”

Naruto considered the idea of fleeing. The only problem with that was that her orders were to defend the trench lines, and until there was a call for retreat, she was to remain there. That meant she had to deal with these two on her own, even if it was far riskier to do so alone.

She could have taken the chunin by herself, but the Jonin was complicating things. Already Naruto knew the woman was a superior opponent, and she had faced such odds alone, but never had it been when her team was so far away. Her nearest teammate was miles down the trenchline, and Kenta was likely dealing with his own enemies to think about finding her.

Curse the idiot who decided to split the Anbu team’s effectiveness by splitting the team.

She had no more time to mope, however, as the Jonin sent a ball of water flying at her. Naruto didn’t like how the oblong disk of water was rapidly spinning.

She jumped to the side, watching as it cut through two random Land of Fire gunman before losing its power and splashing against the wall.

“Like my spinning bullet? Thought it up myself.”

Naruto frowned harder, throwing an angry look to the woman. She needed to go down.

Which is why she was glad she made clones earlier.

A set of hands burst from the floor beneath the jonin, holding her in place. From the walls, two more clones burst out, kunai aimed to strike the jonin down.

As a final measure, Naruto herself sprinted forward, tanto poised for a stab.

The Jonin freaked out, caught off guard. She blocked the two clone’s stabs with her arm guards, eyes widely watching as Naruto sprinted at her.

The woman’s brother yelled out, throwing himself in front of his sister. He blocked the blade of her tanto with his arm, clumsily swiping at Naruto with a Kunai.

Naruto stepped back, nearly growling with frustration. She should have really with this prick faster. 

The chunin threw down another glass vial, resulting in more yellow liquid pooling at his feet. He let out a familiar string of hand signs. “Kirigakure no Jutsu!”

“Fuck!” naruto cursed when the yellow gas blocked her vision once more, and again when she heard the sharp pop of her clones. Her clone's memory told her the jonin had freed herself.

Naruto raised her tanto, creating clones to watch her back.

A sharp pop and curse let her know to duck, dodging the blade of the jonin’s katana. Naruto had to immediately dodge again when the woman’s other hand came at her holding a kunai.

From there, Naruto had to deflect and dodge what she could, careful to make sure the blade didn’t cut her clothes too badly. Despite the stinging of the gas, her skin seemed not to be too damaged, so she wasn’t sure how damaging the gas actually was. Even so, it still stung whenever her skin came into contact with it, which led to her losing more of her concentration in the fight.

The onslaught of blades stopped, and naruto tried catching her breath.

“Die Bitch!” the chunin shouted out behind her.naruto turned, dodging his two handed downward stab. She grabbed a hold of the chunin’s facemask, pulling it off.

The chunin choked loudly, wide eyes bugging outward. Naruto could see the exposed skin reddening, slowly blistering. She grimaced.

“Choco!” the jonin yelled, panicked. She stabbed Naruto from behind, grabbing the gas mask and rushing to her brother.

“Choko, I’m right here, hold on!” she rushed to her brother, dragging him to her lap. She fumbled with the straps, pausing in confusion when Naruto popped out of existence.

Here eyes widened when she heard the hiss, and she flipped the mask over.

On the inside of the mask, an exploding tag was lit.

And it just went off.

____________________

Naruto winced as the explosion rained debris over her cover, carrying dirt, rocks and blood making heavy impacts with the dirt around her. Lucky for her, the yellow gas wasn’t very flammable, which meant she wasn’t killed when the ignited gas made the explosion bigger.

She sighed, with that mess over with, she could get back to her mission.

Protect the footsoldiers, so they could protect the Trench line.

She took a minute to listen, frowning at the sounds of dismay and alarm spread through her allies forces. She looked toward the enemy line/.

In the air, floating over the enemy lines and creeping steadily towards them, giant steel balloons came. She could see from here that multiple turret instalments litters the bottoms of the balloons. Rotating fins pushed the fortress forward, though she could not tell what made them float so. 

It was not the sight that was the most terrifying thing about it.

It was the sound.

A deep thrumming, like the wings of thousands of bees, bellowed out from the closest flying war balloon. Its sound alone shaking her eardrums and the air around her. 

A horn sounded from it, deep, louder than the buzz, and spirit shakingly hollow.

And the dozen machines crept steadily forward like the hands of the Shinigami itself. Ready to begin delivering death from above.

These things were made for one thing and one thing only. War.

And the allies were sorely underprepared to counter it.

A great roar arose from the enemy who, spirits soaring, began invading even more fervently. Hundreds, no, thousands of them.

All along the trenches, Naruto could hear the call for retreat begin spreading, and the allies of Konoha began to retreat.

Naruto turned, running back to where she was before the attack.

If she was going to retreat, she was going to make sure everyone she was teamed with for recon duty made it back as well, those who were still alive at least.

______________________

Naruto walked in front of her group of survivors hours later. She had rounded up as many survivors as she could, the wounded helping the blind and vice versa, while the healthy focused on protecting them,

They crept silently through the night foliage, snow crunching softly under their feet. This whole side of the countryside at least twenty miles inside the trenchline protection zone was under enemy occupation. That was, assuming the next line of trenches held up against the enemy assault. 

Behind Naruto, Aiden held his rifle, gently supporting Spencer as they walked. Spencer refused to be useless, holding a small officer pistol in his hand. Behind them, eight other survivors walked, five of which were either blind or too injured to help defend.None of them were Shinobi.

The light of a large fire drew their attention, and Naruto held a hand up to stop their tiny procession. She held a hand sign for ‘wait here’ quietly sneaking towards the light to investigate.

She reached the edge of the treeline, the warmth of the fire nearly scalding even from here. She peered through the wilting tree branches.

She blanched at what her peering was met with.

Bodies piled! fire! flames! Destruction! Death!

She turned away from the burning village. There was no screaming, no sounds, nothing other than the crackling of flames and the collapsing of houses. There was no one to save.

No one is alive there.

She made her way back to the group silently, taking extra care to avoid twigs. There was no telling if the enemy set up recon stations to monitor possible movement from Konoha’s forces. There was a high chance that anyone trying to save possible survivors of the town would be shot.

She made it to the group, who had taken the chance to sit down and rest. She almost stumbled right past them actually, because they were so quite. It was only the sounds of their breathing, and quiet moaning, that gave them away. She was nearly impressed, until she remembered none of them wanted to be found by the enemy behind their lines.

The group (those who could see anyway) looked to her for a report when she announced her presence. She shook her head.

“The town that used to be just past the edge of these woods was torched. There’s nothing left except burning buildings.”

Next to Aiden, Spencer tensed, hissing as he strained his leg. Aiden fixed him with a curious look. “What’s up?”

“My parents were in that town!” he hissed out, trying to push himself to stand. Aiden shook his head, raising to stop him.

“How do you know it was that town? There are hundreds of tiny towns between here and the Land of Fire”

“You don’t think I don’t recognize these woods? I used to live here before my parents were ordered to evacuate! This is my town!” he hissed, taking a step towards the source of the light.

“He can’t go! Someone stop him, we’ll be discovered!’ someone else hissed. A few of the men got up, likely to do so.

“Everybody hold up!” Aiden glowered. “There’s no reason to resort to violence, fighting will get us caught for sure, even if checking the Village doesn’t!” he turned to Spencer. “Look, buddy…”

“Don’t buddy me! We aren’t friends! We don’t know each other!”

Aiden looked hurt, but he grit his teeth and carried on. “It doesn’t matter whether we’re friends or not Spencer. What matters is that we can’t get caught.”

“But my parents…”

“I get it man, I really do. If my parents were anywhere near here, I’d be freaking out right now. But you’ve got to think through that man. Do your parents have common sense?”

“What?”  
“Do they?”

“Yes!”

“Are they deaph?”

“No.. wh-what does this have to do with anything?”

Aiden gave spencer a smirk, although anyone who could see him saw it was shaky. {then they probably left when the fighting started. The battle wasn’t exactly quiet, and the moment the artillery started raining down on us anyone with common sense would have got the hell away.”

“Ye-yeah… you’re right.”

“Come on man, we can check for them when we get back to friendly forces, but rushing off into enemy territory is going to do nothing but get yourself killed. How would your parents feel if you died doing something sop reckless?”

“Angry…. You’re right.” Spencer sighed. “But what about my neighbors, My friends? That’s my home town! I can’t just leave without checking to see if there were survivors.”

Naruto approached Spencer, tugging on his arm for attention. When he looked at her she shook her head. “I was there Spencer. There’s nothing living there. Nothing but the fire and ruins.”

Everyone knew how strong the senses of shinobi were. If they said there was no chance of anyone living, there was no one living.

“Ok.” Spencer let out weakly. He did not miss how she said no one living, and not no one. People he knew, civilians, had died tonight. And it was because he had written home, telling them all how slow the war on their front was. He could only hope his parents were still alive, And his sister was not left an orphan because of him.

________________________

Hours later, with the sun just coming up, the group made it back to the lines of friendly forces. They were received at gunpoint until they were revealed to be friendly.

Naruto was crushed into a deadly hug by a teary Noda, while the rest of her team watched in fascination. She would not be reported missing in action after all.

Nes was shared, spread. Families were reunited, others torn apart. Tears shed, laughs had. But the important thing…  
The war was not over, and Konoha was outnumbered.  
____________________

Onoki smiled with satisfaction as he read the reports. The war seemed to be going well for them. They just breached through three lines of trenches, and had occupied a smaller, neutral country.

Things were looking up for Iwagakure, after a year of stalemate. 

He frowned, looking at his desk.

There were many scrolls, nations clamoring to join his side of the war, and after what his nation, his village, had shown the world their might, he was not surprised.

There was a scroll missing, however, and it caused him to frown.

It seemed as though Kumogakure had yet to decide on whether they would join their cause.

If the Raikage didn’t make his decision soon, Onoki would make it for him.

And trust me, A would not like his decision.

_________________________________

A shinobi who serves with their desires, from their heart, is a fickle shinobi. Because the heart is fickle, and changes what it wants. A shinobi of the heart will have a weak will.

The true will of fire is a shinobi who’s will never changes. Because they are not shinobi of the heart.

They serve not with passion, but with strength and skill. They know from the start, their skills and strength are Konoha’s skill and strength.

But who will direct that will, that strength? Who has the will to stand up to konoha’s, the strength to match this great village?

Me of course. 

There is no one worthier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed that chapter.
> 
> I tried to show a bit more of how messed up Naruto's mentality is at this moment. I hope I showed it well. I'm trying to go for Naruto's mentality slowly worsening while shes faced with the horrors of war.
> 
> of course, there will be a breaking point, but that isn't until much later.
> 
> but there it was, Chapter 16! I'm so happy i wish i could figure out how to type a little smug face with its fists tucked into its waist.
> 
> If you've noticed, this chapter is a turning point. Next chapter will be the start of the fourth year of the war, and it will finally become the World War. people's sides will be chosen, and from then on it will be a fast, bumpy ride.
> 
> From now on, fasten your seat belts, because this trains picking up speed and you don't wanna fall out.
> 
> stay healthy, wash your hands, careful of riots, and have a good week everyone.
> 
> Ja-ne

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Guys n gals, I posted this story on Fanfiction.net, where it has the same name. feel free to check it out, because I will most of the time post there first.


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